


Shinkōshoku no Kenshi

by reptilia28



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (Anime 2014), Naruto
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Gen, Post-True Ending, Pre-Shippuden, Route: Unlimited Blade Works
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4810280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reptilia28/pseuds/reptilia28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For three years a rumor has permeated the Elemental Nations. A man dressed in black and red who would help anyone in need, no matter how small the task. He would defend any in his path with two blades, one black as night and the other white as snow. He calls himself an Ally of Justice; those he has saved call him Shinkoushoku no Kenshi, the Crimson Swordsman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Shirou, is the armor really necessary?”

“Yes, Rin, it is.” The girl in question released an aggravated sigh as she stood on her knees, a bucket full of pig blood by her side and a brush saturated with said liquid held in her hand. Her long black hair, normally pulled back into a loose ponytail, was now tied into a tight bun so that no stray locks would find themselves falling into the ichor. Before her was a large, half-completed circle of runes and sigils; directly opposite her on the other side of the rather large room was Shirou Emiya, her apprentice/boyfriend/gofer. Beside him was another bucket full of blood and a brush in his hand. Unlike his companion who was dressed in a crimson sweater and black skirt with matching stockings, Shirou was dressed in black pants and chest armor. His arms were covered by a red fabric, along with a skirt around his waist. His head was covered by a black bandana, though a few locks of auburn and silver hair poked out from beneath the fabric.

“Look, Shirou, I know you’re upset about what happened last time…” Rin began wearily.

“If I wasn’t there, that rabbit would have taken your head off,” Shirou retorted, annoyance tinting his voice. “Hell, it nearly took _my_ head off. Who knows what else may come out of this thing once you activate it,” he continued, gesturing towards the incomplete magic circle between them.

“Okay first off, we both know that that was an accident,” Rin retorted, pointing a finger at Shirou. “Second, I’m _pretty sure_ I’ve figured out what went wrong last time, so something like that shouldn’t happen again.” Shirou was not convinced by his girlfriend’s reassurances, but he could not think of a response, so he dipped his brush into the blood and carefully began drawing out the runes on the floor. While the man was capable of assembling a couple of very simple bounded fields, he was nowhere near close to an expert on the discipline. However, he did know that this particular array was especially complicated and had absolutely no room for error in construction, so he needed to be extra careful. This magic circle was related to the Kaleidoscope, a magic that accessed and harnessed the power of alternate realities. The power of the Kaleidoscope was mastered by only one person in the whole world, and only three other people could use it in any capacity, including Rin Tohsaka.

“So what is this supposed to do anyway?” Shirou asked as he carefully measured out the angle for his next stroke.

“It’s pretty simple,” Rin said as she set aside her brush and entered one of her favorite poses when lecturing him, one finger pointed up into the air while her other hand supported her elbow. “Once this field is completed, it will act as a window into the Kaleidoscope, allowing me to observe alternate realities without actively interfering with them,” she explained proudly.

After considering her words for a few seconds, Shirou hesitantly asked, “Can anything break through this window?”

“No,” Rin replied, “it’s more like watching from a TV screen than an actual window. We’ll be fine.” Finally satisfied with the project’s safety, Shirou continued his work without further comment.

The couple had started work early that morning and due to the size, complexity, and sheer attention to detail necessary meant that almost 24 hours had passed before they were finally finished, but their work was not done yet. Next they each drew smaller circles designed to siphon energy from whoever stood in them. Though this array was technically a form of formalcraft, the simplest and theoretically least power-intensive art of thaumaturgy, since it was connected to a Sorcery, it still required a substantial start-up investment of prana, more than a single person could safely supply. Once the two smaller circles were completed, Rin picked up a large box that she had set to one side of the room and began walking through the larger circle, carefully stepping and dancing so as not to smudge or otherwise mar the lines. At certain points, the young woman would reach into her box and place a gem down on the ground. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires and more, each the size of a golf ball and flawless in make, were placed at strategic points in the magic circle. Shirou tried not to flinch at the sight; Rin often complained about how expensive using gems for her magecraft was, and the price of gems of that size and quality was likely exorbitant. Even if he used up all of the modest fortune that his father had left him, Shirou doubted that he could have afforded more than a few of the gems that Rin was using now.

“All right, done!” she said as she hopped out of the circle, being careful not to disturb the carefully-placed gemstones. Forty-nine jewels glittered brightly, bathing the room in a rainbow of color. After she set aside the now empty jewel box in a far corner of the room, she asked, “Are you ready?” At Shirou’s nod, they both stepped into their respective circles. As one they took deep, calming breaths, clearing their minds for the powerful magic that they were about to perform. Slowly Rin raised her arm, the magic crest embedded in her flesh glowing brightly. With all the force and authority she could muster, she declared, “ _Magie, nehmen Sie meine Macht!_ ”

At the same time, Shirou solemnly intoned, “ _Trace: on_.” His magic circuits flared and he could feel his internal prana flowing out of his body and into the circle before him. As Rin continued to add lines to her aria, the circle glowed brightly, each gem lighting up one by one. As soon as the last gem illuminated, the entire circle was bathed in white light, bright enough to make Shirou avert his gaze or risk being blinded. When the brilliance subsided, Shirou’s eyes widened in surprise at what he saw. Where the circle once was there was now an image of a forest vista. The image was high above the trees and slowly drifting like it was footage taken from a camera attached to a helicopter. It looked like the forest bordered a mountain; Shirou saw no signs of civilization nearby. In his opinion it was a quite relaxing view.

Shirou began to suspect that something was wrong when the drain on his magic circuits did not subside – in fact, it seemed to be increasing. The image flickered and faded into a blank white, glowing ever brighter. The drain on his prana, once merely uncomfortable quickly became agonizingly painful. Rin, who lacked his unusually high pain tolerance, was already on her knees struggling not to cry out.

“Rin…get out of here,” Shirou gritted out through clenched teeth. He struggled to stay upright; his legs were already growing weak.

“No!” Rin retorted, the magic crest on her arm pulsing erratically. “I can fix this, just give me a minute.” Shirou’s whole body felt like it was on fire and his vision was beginning to fade and darken along the edges. Any minute now he would pass out; if he did, then he could not guarantee Rin’s safety.

So like the hero he aspired to be, he acted.

“ _I am the bone of my sword_ ,” he incanted. Behind Rin, prana materialized into dozens of sledgehammers floating in mid-air. While such constructs were more expensive to create than swords, Shirou preferred speed over cost in this instance. In an instant the masses of steel shot forward and crashed into the wall behind Rin, pulverizing the stone. Two more volleys and a large hole was smashed into the barrier.

“You idiot, what the hell are you doing?!” Rin screamed incredulously.

“Saving you,” Shirou muttered in response. Between the intense glow from the unstable magic circle and his own fading consciousness, he could barely see anything anymore. But he could still barely make out his lover’s outline, and that was enough. A shinai manifested before him aimed at the red-clad woman before him. “I’m sorry Rin.” The wooden practice sword shot out and planted itself into Rin’s abdomen, propelling her through the newly made hole in the wall.

Shirou fell to one knee. The pain he was experiencing was indescribable. For eight years he had used his nervous system as an impromptu magic circuit, an experience that felt like pouring molten metal down his spine every single day. He had even been stabbed by a massive cursed spear that had nearly obliterated his heart. Neither of those instances compared to the agony that he was suffering now. But Shirou’s work was not finished; he still needed to patch the hole that he had made so that any backlash would not spill outwards. And for that he needed more power.

“ _Steel is my body, and fire is my blood_.” Dozens of swords spontaneously manifested themselves before soaring towards the hole, some lying flat to cover the opening while other buried themselves to the hilt into the hard stone to pin them down. Soon, a thick layer of sharpened steel made a crude but solid patch, sealing Shirou away. At least Rin is safe, the man thought to himself. Satisfied that the woman he loved was safe, he finally allowed himself to succumb to the pain and passed out into peaceful oblivion.

\----

Pain. That was what greeted Shirou when he came to. His limbs felt like they were made of lead and his magic circuits felt like they were on fire, but in a sense he was relieved by the pain. At least if he hurt it meant he was still alive.

The image that graced Shirou’s vision once he managed to force his eyes open was not dusty gray granite but a brilliant blue sky marred by a few wisps of cloud. He slowly pulled himself up into a seated position and took in his surroundings. Large coniferous trees towered all around him. He could hear the faint rushing of water, indicating a river or stream somewhere nearby. Between the trees he could see the outline of a mountain. All told, Shirou guessed that he was in the general vicinity of the location that he and Rin were overlooking earlier. He was uncertain whether he should be proud of his girlfriend for successfully creating a portal to other worlds when she claimed it would be decades before she could even hope to attempt such a feat, or dismayed that she had done so in such a violent and dangerous fashion.

Slowly, carefully Shirou got back on his feet. The Kaleidoscope was not a subtle magic, and if this world’s inhabitants had any sort of method of monitoring magical activity, then they would likely be dispatching someone to investigate sooner or later. He would not want to be in the area when said investigators arrived if he were at his peak, never mind in his current half-dead state after being unconscious for who knows how long. He gingerly placed one foot in front of the other and began hobbling towards the river. Until he recovered it would be best for him to hunker down somewhere near a source of fresh water and he could feast on fish or wild game looking for a drink.

He should also look into obtaining a different set of clothes as well. Red and black armor was hardly inconspicuous after all.


	2. Chapter 2

In the woods bordering Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was a group. The leader was Kakashi Hatake, a tall, grey-haired man wearing a green flak jacket and his headband pulled down over his left eye. Trailing behind him were three children about 13 years of age. The first was Sasuke Uchiha, the last scion of his clan and top student of his class. The second was Sakura Haruno, a pink-haired girl from a family of little importance and the top kunoichi of her class. The third, easily discerned by his bright orange jumpsuit and loud, bombastic antics was Naruto Uzumaki. The four were ninja; Kakashi was a jōnin, one of the highest ranked while the children were the lowest rank of genin. One day previous they had accepted a job to escort the final member of their party, an old man named Tazuna, to his homeland so that he could complete construction of a bridge.

Sasuke followed along silently while Sakura kept stealing glances at him, nursing a crush on the dour boy. Naruto was in the rear with Tazuna rambling about…something; Kakashi had been ignoring the blond boy’s tangents for hours now. When they had first taken the job, Naruto had whined about how lame it was to guard a drunken old man rather than a princess or a noble, but the novelty of leaving the village walls for the first time in his life had warmed him to the job. Kakashi had some misgivings of his own; when he had told his students that they were unlikely to encounter anything more dangerous than bandits on this mission, Tazuna had started acting suspiciously nervous. The elite ninja did not want to antagonize his client by accusing him of lying about the risks of this job, but kept a wary eye on him nonetheless.

At least the weather was nice, plenty of sun with just enough cloud coverage to keep things pleasantly cool. It would be another day or so before they reached the coast, and then there would be a boat ride to the island where Tazuna lived, however long that took. Suddenly Kakashi sensed a presence ahead. He felt chakra, the mystical energy that all ninja harnessed to perform their amazing feats, distant but approaching quickly. He quickly went on guard; as far as he knew there were no Konoha ninja returning to the village, so what would a foreign ninja be doing so close to the village?

“What’s wrong, Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura inquired.

“Get ready,” the silver-haired leader ordered, “someone’s coming.” His three students suddenly became much more alert and started creeping back, forming a circle around Tazuna. Good, they were remembering their lessons well.

The presence that Kakashi sensed quickly revealed itself to be a young man, mid-twenties by Kakashi’s guess. He was dressed in a worn traveling cloak and had a small bag slung over his shoulder. His skin was a light bronze, darker than anyone in this region and closer to those who lived in the Land of Lightning – perhaps one of his parents or grandparents was from there. He had auburn hair, another unusual color, marred by streaks of white. Kakashi found it odd that the man before him was turning gray at such a young age; he studiously ignored the small voice in the back of his head that pointed out that he himself had a full head of white hair despite not even being 30 yet.  
“Hello!” the young man called out with a friendly wave. “I’m afraid I’ve gotten a bit lost. Can any of you tell me how to get to the Land of Waves?”

“Oh? Why do you ask?” Kakashi asked in a casual tone as his suspicions grew. This probably-a-ninja just happened to be walking along the same path as their VIP while inquiring about his homeland? That was too many coincidences for his liking.

“I heard that they were setting up this big bridge there, so I wanted to go see if they were willing to take on any new hires,” the stranger replied, oblivious to Kakashi’s misgivings. The jōnin was about to reply back but was preempted by his client approaching the stranger and looking him over with an appraising eye. The redhead’s polite smile did not falter, though Kakashi’s keen eye noticed the man’s nose twitch slightly. He did not blame the other man for his reaction; Tazuna reeked of cheap alcohol, and most people would not have appreciated sharing their space with such a man.

“You know anything about building bridges, boy?” the builder of the bridge in question asked gruffly.

“Not really,” the young man admitted, “but I’m a quick learner, and I’m a decent mechanic. I figured that I could at least maintain whatever machinery you’re using.”

Tazuna made a dismayed grunt. “Labor’s been short, so I could use any help I can get. Unfortunately, we’re kind of in dire straits now financially,” he admitted forlornly.

“Oh that’s okay,” the stranger said. “If you can provide room and board, I’d be happy to waive my wages in return.” This seemed to brighten Tazuna’s mood.

“Well if you’re willing to work for free, I say you’re hired!” the old man crowed. Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance. It seemed that he needed to have a word with his client about exercising proper caution, including _not accepting help from random strangers after hiring a team of ninjas for bodyguard work_. “The name’s Tazuna, what’s yours, kid?” the bridge builder asked as he extended a hand in greeting.

“Shirou,” the young man replied as he shook the offered hand. “Shirou Emiya.” As Shirou introduced himself to the rest of the team, Kakashi kept a scrutinizing gaze on the young man. He certainly acted like a civilian, but mannerisms could be faked and he exuded more chakra than any civilian would. It seemed that the jōnin would have to keep an eye on this one too.

\----

The group of now six continued to travel down the road to Wave, stopping to make camp at nightfall. They all huddled around a small fire for warmth. Tazuna and Shirou gnawed on dried meat that they were carrying while Kakashi and his students dined on their own rations.

“So Mister Emiya, where are you from anyway?” Sakura asked after taking a bite of her nutrient bar.

“Please, call me Shirou,” the redhead replied. “And as to your question, I’m from a town called Fuyuki.”

“Fuyuki? I’ve never heard of it,” Sakura said as she furrowed her brow in confusion.

“It’s pretty far from here,” Shirou explained to the pinkette. “In fact, it’s so far away that I’d never heard of the five Great Shinobi Nations until I arrived here.” That caught Kakashi’s interest. The Great Shinobi Nations were the five largest and most powerful ninja villages and some of the most powerful military forces around. While there were some places that the Great Five had little to no political or martial influence in, to have not heard of them at all? This Shirou person either had to have lived under an exceptionally large rock all his life or have come from somewhere very far indeed. Both Sakura and Naruto began bombarding the man with questions about his homeland and even Sasuke, for all his stoic countenance, seemed intrigued as well.

“So what are you doing here?” Kakashi asked, silencing his students. “In the Land of Fire, I mean?”

“Well, it’s a funny story actually…” Shirou said as he scratched the back of his head and chuckled in embarrassment. “About three years ago I was helping my girlfriend develop a new jutsu. Some things went wrong and next thing I know, I’m here.” He gave a deep shrug as if to say, ‘what else can you do?’ “I don’t know where my homeland is in relation to here, so it’s not like I could just hop on a boat and sail home. All I can do now is wait for her to finish the jutsu and bring me home.” As Sakura inundated him with more questions, zeroing in on the girlfriend that he mentioned, Kakashi pondered what he had said. The man seemed to be speaking honestly, but the jōnin was only aware of one jutsu, theoretical or otherwise, that could have transported someone across the vast distances that Shirou was implying: the Hiraishin, the personal jutsu of the late Fourth Hokage, one of Konoha’s leaders. Could someone be trying to develop a jutsu similar to it?

That idea bore further investigation.

\----

The third day of their journey was as serene as the previous two. Naruto seemed to have taken a shine to Shirou and had taken it upon himself to educate the traveler on the wonders of Konohagakure, along with the myriad virtues of ramen. Kakashi tuned out the loud-mouthed blond once more as he took in his surroundings. Clear blue sky, a nice gentle breeze, a couple of puddles on the side of the road….

Wait, what?

Honestly, puddles on the road when it hadn’t rained for weeks? Whoever these ninja were, they were clearly rank amateurs. Still, Kakashi strolled by them without giving any indication that he had seen through their ruse. He needed to know who they were targeting; were they going after him and his team or Tazuna? They could even be vying for their new addition Shirou.

Soon enough two ninjas leapt from the puddles; Kakashi guessed that they were chūnin, the second rank of ninja. Their faces were concealed by gas masks and they bore forehead protectors – hitai-ate – bearing the mark of Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mists. Both of them wore a large gauntlet with sharp, wicked-looking claws and firing long, barbed chains. Just before the chains could wrap around him, Kakashi performed a Substitution Jutsu, swapping himself for a simulacrum composed of a few logs and sticks stuck together with chakra and under an illusion to make the whole mass look like him. While the duo ripped apart the dummy Kakashi was safely perched in a tree observing. He would step in eventually but first he wanted to see how his team would react to an enemy encounter.

One of the Kiri ninjas aimed to strike at Naruto next, but the young blond was pulled away by Shirou, narrowly avoiding being swiped by the deadly claws. The two came together and launched their chains at Tazuna, aiming to either kill or restrain him, but Sakura stepped in to protect the old man while Sasuke managed to pin them to a tree with a kunai. Undeterred, the pair engaged a quick-release on their chains and lunged forward to maul both the man and his guardian to death, but Kakashi decided to step in and knock them both cold.

After reassuring his team that he was okay and picking the unconscious duo up, Kakashi softly said to Tazuna, “We need to talk,” sending shivers up the old man’s spine. As the jōnin hauled the two enemy ninja away to bind and interrogate, his thoughts turned to Shirou Emiya. Unlike his new boss who seemed to be one “boo” away from messing his pants, the redhead was completely cool and collected like he had been in a combat situation many times before. He calmly and efficiently pulled Naruto out of the path of danger and even now was trying to console the blond boy over his lack of contribution to the fight.

After briefly interrogating the two ninja that had attacked them, Kakashi turned to Tazuna, about to give him a lecture about lying on the mission application form when Shirou spoke up, having apparently soothed Naruto’s dismay. “You know, I’m curious, why did those ninja attack you, Tazuna?”

“I’m rather curious myself, actually,” Kakashi agreed. He had planned to bring this topic up later, but since it had already come up, he might as well get it over with now.  
With a deep, heavy sigh, Tazuna told them about Gatō, a shipping tycoon and one of the richest men in the world. In addition to his many legitimate businesses, the businessman also apparently had several illegal enterprises, including the sale and trafficking of drugs and other “contraband” – Kakashi could think of _many_ things that fell under that label. Apparently, Gatō’s latest venture was to take over the Land of Waves by blocking all marine traffic to the country, essentially strangling the economy. Tazuna was a threat to Gatō’s control with his bridge, which would provide a land trade route to the mainland.

“But if you went all this way to hire a ninja escort, why didn’t you just pay someone to take this Gatō guy out?” Shirou asked, nonplussed.

“Because when I said that we were in dire financial straits, I meant it,” Tazuna replied with another weary sigh. “The whole country is broke, even the nobles. I was barely able to scrape enough money to pay for this C-Rank, there was no way I’d be able to afford a proper B- or A-Rank mission.” He turned to Kakashi with a forlorn look. “I’m sorry for deceiving you. I understand if you want to just quit the mission now.” Before Kakashi could form a response, a tanned hand clasped Tazuna’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Tazuna,” Shirou said with the most serious voice and expression that any of them had seen in the short time that they had known him. “I will help you complete that bridge and I will defend you against Gatō and his minions. I give you my word as an Ally of Justice.” This solemn declaration seemed to light a fire in Naruto’s belly since he ran up next to the two civilians, fist clenched in determination.

“I’m going to be Hokage someday, and I’ll start by protecting you from Gatō’s thugs! You can count on me, believe it!” he shouted. His face-splitting grin quickly fell as he realized something and turned to Kakashi. “Kakashi-sensei, we are going to protect him, right?”

“Well, it’s sad to say, but these things do happen sometimes,” Kakashi answered with a sigh and a shrug. “As ninja, it’s not like we can go running back to the village every time something unexpected pops up. So sure, we’ll continue the mission.” As Naruto celebrated in his own exuberant way, Kakashi thought about what Shirou had called himself, an “Ally of Justice.” That term sounded familiar; where had he heard that before…?

\----

Beneath his cool, stoic façade, Sasuke Uchiha was fuming inside. It was bad enough that their client was a belligerent old drunk, but a day-and-a-half into their journey another civilian had joined their group. What was Kakashi thinking?! Granted, that Shirou Emiya guy had held himself together better than their client when those chūnin had attacked them the other day, but he was still ultimately a liability. In the end, Sasuke would protect Tazuna because whether the Uchiha boy liked it or not, he was the client; Shirou would enjoy no such benefits.

The next couple of days had passed uneventfully. They had managed to charter a boat to the Land of Waves from one of Tazuna’s associates. Along the way they had passed the bridge that Tazuna was constructing and Sasuke had to admit that it was an impressive sight, even incomplete as it was. Naruto had then made a fool of himself by throwing his kunai into random bushes, scaring a rabbit that had been wandering about. Both Shirou and Kakashi scrutinized it, but while the jōnin seemed to regard it with suspicion, the tag-along seemed to be pondering how to cook it for dinner. He had to admit, the thought of eating something other than dry, tasteless nutrient bars for once sounded pretty appealing to Sasuke. Both men suddenly stood sharply, much more alert.

“Get down!” they both shouted and everyone instinctively dove to the ground. Above their head whipped an enormous sword, easily as long as Sasuke was tall. It spun like a propeller, embedding itself in a nearby tree. In the blink of an eye a large, muscle-bound man appeared, standing on the handle of the blade. He was shirtless and his face was concealed by bandages wrapped around his head. Kakashi identified the man as Zabuza Momochi, a rogue ninja that bore the moniker “Demon of the Bloody Mist”. Zabuza in turn referred to Sasuke’s teacher as “Sharingan Kakashi,” which confused the Uchiha. The Sharingan was a special eye that could copy any jutsu, a power exclusively held by members of the Uchiha clan, so how could Kakashi have one? In response, the silver-haired jōnin pulled up his headband and opened his covered eye, revealing a crimson iris with three tomoe – the Sharingan. How was that possible? Was Kakashi a distant relative that had somehow managed to survive the massacre of Sasuke’s clan? And if so, why did it only manifest in one eye?

A great fog rolled in, enveloping them all in its obscuring haze. A chill not brought about by the cold ran down Sasuke’s spine as Zabuza cackled like the demon he claimed to be, taunting them from behind the mists about how he would kill them. As Kakashi tried vainly to locate his enemy in the dense fog, he exuded a horrifying aura of his own. The combination of the two warriors’ murderous intent was too much for the Last Uchiha to bear. It clawed at his mind and pulled the air straight out of his lungs like a great weight pressed against his chest. His body moved on its own, mechanically drawing a kunai and raising it to plunge the blade into his heart, eager to escape this hell, when a hand firmly grasped his own.

“Calm down, kid,” Shirou said, snapping Sasuke out of his trance. He looked up in naked fear at the civilian who seemed so relaxed it was if he did not feel anything. Was this man stupid or simply insane? How could he be so calm at a time like this, how could anyone be so calm at a time like this?

“Listen to him, Sasuke,” Kakashi said, flashing them a masked smile over his shoulder. “I won’t allow you – any of you – to get hurt.”

“Are you sure about that?” Zabuza asked with a chuckle before the mists parted to reveal him standing in between the group, right next to Tazuna with his enormous sword across his shoulders.

Before any of the genin could react, Kakashi had already rushed forth and impaled the swordsman with a kunai. With the blade buried deep in his heart, the wound in Zabuza’s chest gushed – water?

“Kakashi-sensei, look out!” Sakura’s warning came too late as another Zabuza materialized behind Kakashi and bisected the jōnin with his enormous sword. Kakashi, along with the original Zabuza clone, both dissolved into puddles of water. While Zabuza marveled at how Kakashi had so easily seen through his deception and turned it against him, the real Kakashi strolled out of the mists and held a kunai to his foe’s neck.

“It’s over, Zabuza,” he said grimly. To everone’s surprise, the bandaged swordsman began to chuckle evilly.

“Not bad, Kakashi,” he said. “You managed to see through my illusion and counter it with one of your own. There’s just one problem…” Once more Zabuza dissolved into a pool of water while he reappeared behind Kakashi. “…I’m not so easily fooled!”

Kakashi jumped up to dodge a swing of Zabuza’s sword, the blade burying itself in the ground. Undeterred, Zabuza grasped the pommel of his sword as support; as Kakashi returned to the earth, Zabuza gave a mighty kick, launching him into the nearby lake. The rogue ninja leapt after him, standing on the surface of the lake like it was solid ground. He plunged his hand into the water and pulled forth a sphere as large as he was, Kakashi trapped within. Even through his water prison, Kakashi managed to yell at his team to escape with Tazuna, claiming that Zabuza’s water clones could not follow them and that the mission was more important than his life. Sakura wholly supported retreating and Sasuke internally debated whether or not to follow his sensei’s orders when Shirou stepped forward.

“If I distract Zabuza, do you kids think you can come up with a plan to free your sensei?” he asked while looking at them over his shoulder, sounding completely unconcerned. Sasuke looked at him in bafflement. What could this civilian do that Kakashi could not? He was not even armed! And yet, gone was the friendly smile that they had come to associate with the traveler, replaced by an icy gaze. No, not ice – something harder, sharper, deadlier.

Like steel.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan!” Naruto replied to the redheaded man, causing Sasuke to grimace. A plan by the dead last student? They were all doomed. Yet Shirou seemed satisfied and began to approach Zabuza.

“Oh, another challenger?” the Demon asked in amusement. With a gesture, another clone rose up from the water to face Shirou. “Do you really think a civvie like you can do better than Kakashi Hatake?” he continued with a sneer. “You don’t even have any weapons!”

“I honestly don’t know if I can do better than Kakashi,” Shirou admitted, not intimidated by the large man bearing the larger sword before him, “but I’m stronger than I look. What’s that phrase that you ninja like to use? ‘Look underneath the underneath?’ And as for weapons…” he continued, curling his fingers as if to grasp something that was not yet there, “…who says I don’t have any?” To everyone’s surprise, chakra began to pool in his hands, energy lancing between his fingers as the energy continued to grow and shift.

“What in the world…?” Tazuna gasped, shocked by what he was witnessing. The genin guarding him were not much more composed. Then Shirou spoke. It was two words in a language that none of them understood, but they could feel the power that they held all the same, like a lord commanding his subjects.

“ _Trace… **ON!**_ ”


	3. Chapter 3

Its name was Kubikiribōchō.

That was what Shirou learned when he looked at the blade that has just sailed over his head. As soon as he laid eyes on it, he had instinctively cast Structural Grasp on it, learning everything about the sword: its name, its attributes, and its history.

He knew that it was 1.7 meters long from tip to pommel and weighed approximately 10 kilograms. He knew that there were 1,348 seals micro-engraved onto the blade, too small for the naked eye to see, that both increased its durability and gave it the ability to repair itself from damage by leaching out iron from blood. He knew that it had used this regeneration ability 14 times since its creation. He knew that the sword had three other wielders besides Zabuza Momochi. He knew that 2,419 people had died on its blade.  
In an instant, Shirou knew all that and more. It was both beautiful and unbearably ugly to look at.

While Kakashi and Zabuza traded words, Shirou slowly edged closer to Tazuna and the children, willing to protect them if necessary. He had had the misfortune of facing ninja in the past. They practiced their magecraft in a way that Shirou had never seen before, using gestures and hand signs in lieu of reagents and arias, often shouting out the name of the technique that they were about to use. Perhaps the use of hand signs was their way of self-hypnosis to help actualize the mystery that they were attempting to use?

He had found himself on the receiving end of more fireballs, lightning strikes, and other attacks than he cared to admit, but the redhead had a defense against such abilities. His armor, gifted to him by the Church as thanks for dispatching a particularly dangerous and troublesome vampire, was made from the shroud of a saint, one with powerful anti-magic capabilities. Had circumstances occurred differently in his youth, the shroud would have been bound around Shirou’s arm, sealing away the transplanted power of a Heroic Spirit, a being of near-immeasurable power. Instead, by sealing his body at the state he was in when he put it on, his armor is able to nullify all but the most powerful of magical attacks. Between that and his own sharp reflexes easily able to deflect and parry any thrown weapons, the ninja he fought ultimately proved no more troublesome than any other rogue mage that Shirou had faced in the past. Still he remained wary for he had heard of individuals who he wagered could even fare well against Dead Apostle Ancestors, the most ancient and powerful of the undead; people who could summon giant monsters or wipe out entire armies with a single spell.

With a gesture from Zabuza, a thick fog rolled into the woods, obscuring the vision of everyone there. The sword-bearing shinobi laughed, his grim taunts echoing through the mists. The mist was too thick to see through, even if Shirou Reinforced his eyes, and it was laced with prana, making it all but impossible to sense Zabuza. He could feel two intense auras pressing down around him, one from where Kakashi stood a few feet away, another dispersed all around him, presumably from Zabuza. Shirou was not swayed, for he had faced worse when he was younger and much weaker than he was now. He felt bloodlust, but not as intense as from that cursed red spear wielded by a man dressed in blue. He felt murderous intent, but not as monstrous as from that immortal leaden giant. Looking around, he saw that his comrades were not faring nearly as well as he was. In fact, the Uchiha boy seemed poised to plunge a knife into his chest to escape whatever terror he was feeling.

“Calm down, kid,” Shirou said as he grasped Sasuke’s hand, snapping him out of his trance.

“Listen to him, Sasuke,” Kakashi told his student as he looked at them over his shoulder. “I won’t allow you – any of you – to get hurt.”

“Are you sure about that?” Zabuza asked mockingly before suddenly appearing between them. _When did he get there?_ Shirou wondered. In the blink of an eye Kakashi was upon him. In the span of mere seconds, both Zabuza and Kakashi were revealed to be clones made of water, made so fast and stealthily that Shirou had not noticed the change. Was this a glimpse at the true power of a ninja?

The real Kakashi was soon knocked into the nearby lake where Zabuza imprisoned him in a sphere of water. Even through his prison Kakashi shouted at them to leave him behind, saying that the mission was more important than his life. His students could flee if they wished, but Shirou had no such plans. There was no way that he would abandon someone, not if there was a chance that they could be saved.

“If I distract Zabuza, do you think you can come up with a plan to free your sensei?” he asked as he stepped forward.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan!” Naruto assured him. Despite the doubt on his comrade’s face, Shirou felt comforted by the blond boy’s confidence and continued to advance towards his opponent.

“Oh, another challenger?” Zabuza asked, making another clone rise from the water with a wave of his hand. “Do you really think a civvie like you can do better than Kakashi Hatake?” he asked mockingly. “You don’t even have any weapons!”

“I honestly don’t know if I can do better than Kakashi,” Shirou answered, which was true. He did not know if he was better than the silver-haired ninja because he had never fought the man, and if the display he had just witnessed was just a fraction of his power, he never wanted to. “…But I’m stronger than I look. What’s that phrase you ninja like to use? ‘Look underneath the underneath?’ And as for weapons…” Shirou felt his magic circuits flaring, prana flowing through them ready to perform at his will, “…who says I don’t have any?”

**Step one: judging the concept of creation.**

_Two married blades, equal yet opposite…_

**Step two: hypothesizing the basic structure.**

_…curved broadswords, weighted for throwing…_

**Step three: duplicating the composition material.**

_…made to always return to one another …_

**Step four: imitating the skill of its making.**

_…forged long ago, for an impossible dream…_

**Step five: sympathizing with the experience of its growth.**

_…wielded for centuries by a hero with no name…_

**Step six: reproducing the accumulated years.**

_…who was forsaken by his ideals, and so forsook them in turn…_

**Step seven: excelling every manufacturing process.**

_…and stood alone on a hill of swords._

“ _Trace… **ON!**_ ” Prana molded itself in his hands, manifesting as a pair of curved broadswords. One blade was black as coal, faintly decorated with red hexagons along its surface like the shell of a turtle. The other was white, faint swirls in the metal invoking images of clouds. On the hilts of both was a taijitu, the symbol of yin and yang. Their names were Kanshou and Bakuya. Zabuza looked at the blades in surprise before reeling his head back and letting loose a deep, joyous laugh.

“Hahaha, this is great!” he said between his hysterics. “I get to fight Sharingan Kakashi _and_ the Crimson Swordsman? This must be my lucky day.” He lowered his sword, the tip digging into the dirt. “Tell me, are you as good with those blades as the rumors say?” he asked. Shirou said nothing, instead readying himself into a stance; he was taught that it was a sin to speak during battle. “Not one for banter during combat? Not my style, but I can respect that.” The Kubikiribōchō was raised up, the handle grasped in both hands and its edge behind its wielder. “I guess I’m just going to have to find out for myself!” he cried out as he rushed forward, blade poised to strike.

Shirou blocked with both swords; the impact felt like being hit by a truck, sliding back several inches. He retaliated by ducking underneath Zabuza’s reach and attempting to disembowel him, which the bandaged ninja leapt back to avoid. Shirou flung Kanshou, the black sword buzzing through the air like a saw as it whipped through the air. Zabuza casually dodged it before swiping with Kubikiribōchō which Shirou leaned back to avoid, trimming a few stray hairs from his bangs. Zabuza was about to make another strike when his eyes suddenly widened and he spun around to bat aside a returning Kanshou that was about to slice his head clean off. It was knocked off course, but the married swords were enchanted to always return to one another, so it quickly corrected itself and landed squarely in Shirou’s hand. Shirou sidestepped an overhead chop that buried Kubikiribōchō into the ground. Before Zabuza could extract it, Shirou flung Bakuya away and grabbed his enemy’s blade by the circular notch near the front, Reinforcing his hand to as to not lose his fingers on the sharp edge. Zabuza tried to wrench his sword free, but Shirou’s arm, Reinforced enough to draw a bow capable of pinning a target over a mile away, refused to yield. Just before Bakuya would have decapitated Zabuza, he and his sword dissolved into water, forcing Shirou to quickly dissipate the ivory blade to its component prana before it took his own head off. He looked to the lake to see that whatever plan the genin had concocted to free their sensei had worked, for Kakashi was now free from his prison.

Both experienced ninja stood on the surface of the lake as if it were solid ground, their hands flipping through hand seals too quickly for Shirou to follow. Though Shirou could not see the seals being performed, the end result was clear when both shinobi shouted, as one, “ _Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!_ ” True to its name, two writhing dragons made of water rose up from the depths, creating great waves strong enough to uproot trees as they crashed into each other. Shirou could not hear what the two shinobi were talking about, but it seemed that Zabuza was rattled by something. The battle ended when Kakashi summoned a giant vortex of water to cast Zabuza ashore, where he was pinned to a tree by a kunai in each limb.

Just as Kakashi was about to deal the finishing blow, two long, thin needles flew in and pierced Zabuza’s neck, bringing him down instantly. Everyone followed the trajectory of the needles to find a young man (or perhaps a woman; it was difficult to tell beneath the mask and clothes) standing on a tree branch.

“My thanks for distracting Zabuza Momochi for me,” the masked ninja said in a soft, effeminate voice. “I’ve been tracking him down for ages now.” Naruto took umbrage to the masked shinobi’s interference, which prompted Kakashi to explain to him the concept of hunter-nin, shinobi who hunted down and eradicated rogue elements from their villages to safeguard their secrets. It reminded Shirou of his father Kiritsugu Emiya, who during his tenure as the Magus Killer had often worked to assassinate rogue magi; though unlike hunter-nin he did not owe allegiance to any one organization. After the hunter-nin and Kakashi exchanged a few more words, the androgynous shinobi hoisted the corpse of Zabuza and faded away to parts unknown. Silence reigned as the events that had just transpired sunk into everyone.

“All right, we kicked butt!” Naruto suddenly cheered, startling everyone else. “And Shirou, you were awesome with those swords!” he said, turning to the redhead. “Where’d you learn to do all that cool stuff?”

“Oh you know, I just picked up bits here and there,” Shirou replied with an embarrassed chuckle while scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

“I must say that I’m impressed too,” Kakashi admitted as he pulled his hitai-ate down over his Sharingan eye. “There aren’t too many people who can stand toe-to-toe with one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, even for a few moments.” Without waiting for a response from Shirou, he turned to Tazuna and asked, “By the way, how far is your home from here?”

“Huh?” the old man grunted in confusion. “Oh, it’s not that far, just a few hours away.”

“Good,” Kakashi said with a nod. “I think I’m just going to…lie down for a moment,” he said before he suddenly pitched forward, barely being caught by Shirou.  
“Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto and Sakura both shouted out in concern, rushing to their teacher’s side.

“He’s unconscious, but his vitals are stable,” Shirou said as he held a finger to the ninja’s throat. “I don’t see any wounds on him, so he’s probably just exhausted.”

“I read that the Sharingan requires a lot of chakra to work,” Sasuke said, “that’s probably what wiped him out.”

“Right then,” Shirou said as he hoisted Kakashi up and draped the ninja’s limp body over his shoulders like a fireman. “Tazuna, we need hurry to your house so Kakashi can get some proper rest.”

“Right, follow me,” Tazuna beckoned, leading the three genin and the wanderer to his home.

\----

It was midday when Zabuza attacked and it was nearly nightfall by the time they reached Tazuna’s house. There they were greeted by Tsunami, Tazuna’s daughter, who led Shirou to an empty room to lay Kakashi down in to recuperate. The three genin were inconsolable, constantly fretting over their bedridden sensei. Tazuna himself was worried about the man and agreed to postpone returning to work on the bridge until Kakashi awoke. Shirou occupied himself by assisting Tsunami around the house, cleaning up and even helping cook dinner with what few meager ingredients they had left. They had also met Tazuna’s young grandson Inari, who by and large avoided the newcomers.  
“I didn’t know you were a ninja, Shirou,” Sakura said as they sat down for dinner that night, each diner having a single fish with a small amount of rice and some vegetables that seemed to be past their prime.

“I’m not,” Shirou replied as he gave thanks for the food before him. “I can mold chakra, but I’m not a ninja.”

“So, what are you then?” Sakura asked in confusion. Shirou was not surprised by her puzzlement since there did not seem to be a term for a magic user in this world that was not related to ninja in some way.

“Where I’m from, the general term for someone who can mold chakra is ‘magus,’ so I guess you can call me that,” Shirou answered her.

“Magus…?” Sakura repeated, pondering the unfamiliar word.

“Who cares about that, can you do anything else with those cool swords you summoned out of nowhere?” Naruto interrupted, eager for information. Both of his teammates shot him an annoyed glare at his rudeness.

“I’m sure your sensei has some questions for me about that as well once he wakes up, and I’d rather answer them all at once, so do you think you can wait till then?” Shirou hedged.

“Okay…” Sakura and Naruto conceded with a pout. Despite not saying anything, Sasuke seemed to be disappointed as well.

As it turned out, Kakashi would not awaken until the next day, where he found Tsunami tidying up nearby. Soon all three of his students were hovering over him, asking how he felt. Shirou was also present, though he did not bombard the jōnin with question about his wellbeing.

“You know, that thing you did with the swords was pretty interesting,” Kakashi said casually as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

“Yeah, it was totally awesome!” Naruto interjected. Kakashi briefly grinned at his student’s enthusiasm before returning his attention to Shirou.

“In fact, I’ve never heard of an ability to create weapons – or anything, really – completely out of chakra and still be that durable.” Turning to Naruto, he added, “It’s like your Shadow Clones, Naruto; they tend to break down after one hit.”

“Really?” Shirou replied, showing no hint of shock or surprise. “I think it might be a Bloodline Limit, but I’m not one hundred percent certain,” he continued. Soon after Shirou had arrived here he had discovered that, wild and varied though the various abilities that shinobi wielded were, there were other, more esoteric abilities that only manifested themselves along specific lines of succession called, appropriately enough, Kekkei Genkai or Bloodline Limits. While Shirou disliked lying on principle, he decided that calling his ability to conjure weapons a Bloodline Limit was easier and more plausible than trying to explain Reality Marbles, products of a mind and soul so distorted, so alien, that he could temporarily rewrite reality. “I was orphaned from an early age, so I don’t know if they could do it, but the only other person I’ve met that could do it was my older brother, so that’s my best guess.” Kakashi hummed and nodded in acceptance at the explanation.

“You have a brother?” Sakura asked in surprise. Shirou noticed that for some reason, this seemed to set Sasuke on edge.

“Is he awesome like you?” Naruto asked eagerly.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call Archer ‘awesome,’” Shirou replied with a grimace, “but yeah, he was pretty strong. Stronger than me, at any rate.” Another lie, but it was easier to call the red-garbed Heroic Spirit his older brother than to say that he was an older, alternate version of himself who, driven made with despair and regret, had tried to kill him in an insane attempt to end his own existence. To Shirou’s confusion, his words seemed to put Sasuke in an even fouler mood.

“Does your Bloodline Limit have a name, if you don’t mind my asking?” Kakashi asked, his single visible eye curved into a smile.

Thinking of the alternative title to the Reality Marble that he and Archer both shared, Shirou answered, “My brother called it the Mugen no Kensei.”

“‘Infinite Creation of Blades?’” Kakashi asked, apparently equally amused and confused by the poetic and boastful name. “Interesting name,” he commented.

“I didn’t name it,” Shirou said with a shrug.

“What did Zabuza mean when he called you the Crimson Swordsman?” Sasuke asked Shirou.

Before the redhead could reply, Kakashi said, “About three years ago, rumors started popping up in the civilian sector about a man dressed in red who would help you, no matter how small or insignificant the task was.” With a shrug, he continued, “At first we thought it was just an urban legend, but then we started getting reports of bandits and even some rogue shinobi from other nations being killed by a man in red. People started calling him Shinkōshoku no Kenshi, the Crimson Swordsman. It was said that he called himself an ‘ally of justice’ and fought with two curved swords, one black and one white.” Turning an amused eye to Shirou, he added, “I guess there was some truth to those rumors after all.”

“I like helping people,” Shirou responded with a shrug. “And I don’t like people who hurt others.”

“All right, that’s enough,” Tsunami suddenly said as she began to shepherd everyone out of the room. “Your sensei needs to rest, so go help my father with whatever it is he hired you to do. Now shoo. Shoo!” Now alone in the room, Kakashi laid down and attempted to return to sleep. As he dozed, something kept gnawing at his mind, preventing him from reaching the slumber he sought. He thought back to the fight, how the hunter-nin had taken down Zabuza before disappearing…

…with the body. Which he was supposed to have disposed of right there.

“Ah, crap.”

\----

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you enjoyed doing this to me, Haku,” Zabuza grumbled as his assistant wrapped fresh bandages around his face, a bulge on either side of his neck from excess gauze covering the wounds where the needles had penetrated.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Haku replied with a hint of amusement. The fake hunter-nin was without a mask, revealing a soft, feminine face that did nothing to confirm whether Haku was male or female.

“You know _exactly_ what I’m talking about, brat,” Zabuza grumbled. Bringing Zabuza to the near-death state that he was in before required applying pressure to very specific points in the body, the easiest to reach being two spots in the neck. It was also the most dangerous place to aim for, since even a slight deviation in placement could bring him from only mostly-dead to fully-dead. Fortunately for him, Haku had impeccable aim, able to perfectly hit a target with the notoriously precise senbon needles no matter how difficult the shot. Unfortunately, such a ruse also left him all but crippled for a week while his body recovered, leaving him nearly as helpless as a newborn babe in the meantime.

“Do you think you will have any problems taking out the bridge builder later on?” Haku asked, putting away the medical supplies.

“Nah, Kakashi’s tough, but I think I’ve got his measure,” Zabuza grunted confidently. “He won’t trick me with that damn eye of his again, that’s for sure. As for the other guy, the Crimson Swordsman…him, I’m not so sure about.”

“Oh?” Haku asked. “How do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Zabuza admitted with a scowl. “My gut tells me that there’s more to that man than meets the eye. I don’t know what it is, but he was definitely holding back in our fight.” His cheeks swelled and had his bandages been removed, his lips would have curled to reveal pointed, shark-like teeth. “I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what he brings in round two….”


	4. Chapter 4

" _What?!_ What do you mean Zabuza's still alive?" Sakura shrieked, fear evident on her face. Her two teammates also seemed worried, though Naruto displayed his emotions more openly than Sasuke. As soon as Kakashi had his epiphany, he immediately called his students back in and informed them of this grim development; Shirou and Tazuna were close behind them.

"It just occurred to me that the hunter-nin that we saw before left the scene with Zabuza's body," Kakashi explained, having pulled himself into a seated position. "But that leaves a chance that the body could have been intercepted, especially considering how much bigger and heavier Zabuza was compared to the hunter; that had to have slowed him down. No, what he should have done was dispose of the body right there. So why didn't he? My best guess is that that hunter-nin was not Zabuza's pursuer, but rather his partner. Furthermore, those senbon needles that he used are incredibly precise weapons; being off by a few millimeters can be the difference between a flesh wound and a killing blow. Anyone skilled enough to use senbon in combat would have no trouble hitting Zabuza in a pressure point that would make him seem dead, but is actually in a near-death state. My guess is that those two have been working together for a while to perfect this scheme," he continued.

"Missing-nin are essentially freelance mercenaries, correct?" Shirou inquired, rubbing his chin in thought. At Kakashi's affirmative nod, the redhead continued, "I've dealt with mercenaries before, and most of them will complete their contract no matter what, if only to not gain a reputation for being unreliable, which means that sooner or later he'll be going after Tazuna again. The question is, how much time to we have?"

"Yes, that thought occurred to me as well," Kakashi said with a nod. "Fortunately, I know that any attack that can bring Zabuza to a near-death state will still mess him up pretty badly. I estimate it'll take about a week for him to fully recover."

"And how long will it take for you to recover?" Sakura asked, wringing her hands in worry.

"…About a week," Kakashi reluctantly admitted.

Shirou grimaced and rubbed his forehead to calm himself. "I can provide some extra protection for Tazuna at the bridge, but that's still cutting it pretty close," his groaned.

"Yes, well, fortunately, I'm not so weak that I can't train my students in the meantime, so that shouldn't be a problem," Kakashi replied with an eye-smile. Before Shirou or anyone else could formulate a response, a young voice interrupted them.

"Who do you think you are?" the voice demanded angrily. They turned to see a young boy in overalls and a white cap standing in the doorway, tears welling up in his eyes. "You think just because you're ninjas, you're some big shots or something? It doesn't matter who you are, Gatō will kill you just like he kills everyone else, so just go back where you came from!" he shouted before running off.

"Inari!" Tazuna called out to the child before turning to Kakashi and bowed. "I apologize for that," he said contritely, "my grandson has had an exceptionally difficult time of things recently."

"Nah, it's okay," Kakashi brushed the incident away. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get started on training my students. Do you happen to have a pair of crutches I could borrow?"

\----

The next morning, Tazuna and Shirou made their way to the bridge immediately after breakfast. As they walked, Shirou thought back to what Kakashi had shown his students the afternoon before. By channeling prana to the bottom of his feet, the enfeebled ninja was able to scale a tree and suspend himself upside down from one of the branches in complete defiance of gravity. He warned the children that this technique required precise control over their prana: channel too much, and they would be forcibly thrown off the side of the tree; channel too little, and they would simply fall off to predictable effect. Shirou considered the tactical options that such an ability could provide and made a mental note to try to perform it himself when he had the time. The two boys were having trouble maintaining the proper focus necessary to perform the task, Naruto moreso than Sasuke. Sakura however seemed to have a knack for it, having scaled the tree without incident on the first try. Because of her success, the pink-haired girl was designated Tazuna's ninja escort while Kakashi supervised the two boys' progress.

"Okay, first order of business," Tazuna grunted once they arrived at the bridge. "We need to move those beams over to the edge where the construction's going on," he continued, pointing to a pile of steel girders. "That should take the rest of the morning to do. After lunch, we'll weld them in place and pour the concrete. Think you can handle that, New Guy?"

"Seems simple enough," Shirou acknowledged.

"All right, let's get to work," Tazuna said as he grabbed one of the metal beams. Despite his age, the bridge builder still had a fair amount of strength, which he easily displayed by hoisting the beam onto his shoulder without much difficulty. Shirou, thanks to a bit of subtle Reinforcement, was able to easily haul a beam over each shoulder despite a rather thin build. As Shirou was bringing the last few girders, he noticed Tazuna talking with another one of the workers. The conversation began to get heated and even though Shirou was a fair distance away, he could pick up a few bits of the argument. Apparently the other worker had decided to wash his hands of the bridge and was trying to convince Tazuna to do the same. Tazuna had not appreciated the gesture, and had essentially fired the man on the spot.

"New Guy, lunch!" the bridge builder shouted snappily before stomping off. Throughout their break, Tazuna stewed about his former worker's abandonment, which both Shirou and Sakura were tactful enough not to bring up.

After work ended that evening, the trio went into town to buy supplies for dinner. "Meager" did not begin to describe the state of the store; the only items filling the shelves were barely enough vegetables to fill a single bag and a couple of fish that smelled like they were past their prime. While they were shopping, someone tried to pick Sakura's pocket, which she misconstrued as trying to cop a feel, and punished the offender appropriately. The three left the would-be thief bloodied and twitching on the ground, Sakura angrily grumbling about perverts. Shirou thought that the pickpocket had gotten off rather lightly, considering how Sakura's spitfire personality reminded him of Rin's at times. He recalled one incident when she had followed him on one of his humanitarian missions. They were shopping at a market in a remote village in Syria when someone had accidentally groped Rin while trying to pick her pocket. Between the retaliatory beating he had received and the various curses that Rin had applied to him, the poor thief was still in the hospital for broken bones and a whole slew of minor but debilitating diseases when the couple had left two months later.

While Tsunami prepared dinner, Shirou brought Kakashi, who was watching the three genin running up the trees, a cup of tea. Naruto and Sasuke still had yet to reach the top, though they were making progress, as shown by the mass of fresh scars up the length of the trunk. Kakashi told Sakura that though she had excellent control over her chakra, her reserves were rather lacking, so had sent her on laps up and down the tree to build them up, something that had caught Shirou's interest. Back home, one's ability to channel prana was limited by the number and quality of magic circuits, and could only be improved by implanting additional circuits, a risky proposition at best if the donor and recipient were not related by blood. But here, it seemed that one's magic potential acted much like a muscle, improving when worked and presumably atrophying when left idle. As someone who had spent the majority of his life with sub-par magic circuits himself, this difference between the two worlds caught Shirou's interest, and he made a mental note to bring this up with Rin when she found him, but he tabled the matter for now in favor of a more pressing one.

"With all due respect, Kakashi, while this exercise has a lot of potential applications, do you really think that these kids will be able to stand up to Zabuza by climbing trees?" Shirou asked the masked ninja softly enough that the children could not hear him.

The silver-haired jōnin gave a weary sigh before answering. "Honestly? No, I don't. They did better than I could have hoped for against him the first time, but the fact is they got lucky. If Zabuza were to set his sights on those kids, he'd slaughter them in a heartbeat. I can't teach them to beat a monster like him, not in a week. At least if I teach them this, it'll keep their minds off of that fact."

"If Zabuza's such a threat, why don't you call for backup?" Shirou asked with his brow furrowed in confusion. "I can't imagine you don't have _some_ way of contacting your superiors in case of emergency."

Kakashi gave a wry chuckle. "Normally you'd be right," he conceded as he reached into one of the pockets of his vest. "Unfortunately, it isn't exactly fit for performance at the moment," he continued as he withdrew a mobile phone, a simple one that looked like it was from the 1990s. The crushed state it was in showed that indeed, it was in no state to operate. "I have dogs that I could use, but even my fastest one would take a few days to get back to the village. As far as I know, all the other ninja that I know are capable of potentially beating Zabuza are on missions of their own right now, so it'll take time to recall them. By the time they manage to get here, it would be too late, so I'm just going to have to take care of it by myself."

"I see," Shirou replied, sipping his tea. "And can you? Take care of him yourself, I mean."

"I think so," Kakashi said as he stretched his stiff, aching muscles. "Zabuza will probably have figured out a way to counter my Sharingan, but I have a few other tricks up my sleeve."

"Hmm," Shirou hummed in acknowledgement. "And what about Gatō? What are you going to do about him?" he asked. Kakashi gave a weary sigh.

"Unfortunately, not much," the silver-haired jōnin admitted. "If he makes a move directly against Tazuna, then we can dispatch him under the pretense of protecting our client, but if he doesn't do anything, or waits until after we leave, then there's nothing I can do." Shirou's expression, which up until now had been pleasantly neutral, quickly hardened into a stony façade, betraying no emotion.

"I see," he said flatly before excusing himself. On his way out, the redhead encountered Tazuna's daughter Tsunami.

"Oh, Shirou!" she gasped, startled at the man's sudden appearance. "Dinner is just about ready, would you care to join us?" she offered.

"Thank you, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline," Shirou answered with a polite smile. "I just remembered that I had some errands that I needed to run in town, and I'll likely be back late."

"Okay…" she said, clearly reluctant to let him go. "Just be careful, Gatō's thugs are probably prowling around at this hour and who knows what they could do to you if they knew you were working for my father." Shirou gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about me," he said gently, "I'll be just fine."

\----

Alteration, like the name implies, is a branch of thaumaturgy that involves altering some quality of a given object, generally its shape. What few people know is that if carefully applied to the body it would allow someone to change their appearance. However, like Reinforcement, if the caster were to Alter too much or the wrong thing, it could have potentially fatal results for what would be only temporary rewards. Thus, nearly all magi who knew of the ability to Alter the human form dismissed it as suicidal foolishness. However, for Shirou Emiya, it was proving to be an excellent infiltration tool. While he had a rather distinctive appearance normally, by using Alteration he could cover up his more striking features. Silver-streaked auburn hair darkened to a uniform black while amber eyes changed to a dull brown. Bronzed skin paled to a more typical olive complexion while facial features were obscured by a full, scraggly beard. Where once stood Shirou Emiya was now a random destitute villager off to drown his sorrows at the nearest bar.

After finding such an establishment, Shirou purchased a jug of the cheapest sake available and nestled himself in a quiet corner of the bar. Periodically raising the jug and sucking on the carefully corked top to give the appearance of drinking, Shirou slowly scanned the room. Judging by their gruff appearances and various weapons strapped to their hips, a good two-thirds of the bar's patrons looked like the sort of men an unscrupulous businessman might hire for less-than-legal operations. While they laughed and caroused amongst themselves Shirou silently monitored them, watching like a hunter eyeing his prey.

It would be nearly an hour before one of the ruffians broke away from his comrades, drunkenly staggering away. Leaving a few ryō as recompense for the wasted wine, Shirou stalked after him. The man stumbled and staggered through the streets, the locals giving the inebriated man a wide berth. Shirou carefully followed his mark, making sure not stay too close or make too much noise so as to not attract his attention, though the man's mind was so hazed in drink that Shirou could likely stomp right behind him in parade march before getting his attention. After they had traveled nearly a mile, far enough away that the drunkard's friends could not assist him, Shirou ran up to him and quickly hauled him into a nearby alleyway. Placing a hand over the drunk's mouth to keep him quiet, Shirou quickly traced a knife and held it to his target's neck.

"Make any noise, and you won't live to regret it," he said, lowering his voice to a raspy growl. The man's eyes were wide with fear, his hazy mind quickly sobered by the feel of cold steel pressed against his throat. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, and if I'm satisfied with your answers, I'll let you go, okay?" At the thug's shaky nod, Shirou slowly removed his hand from his victim's mouth. "Where can I find Gatō?" he demanded.

"He lives in a compound about three miles east of here," the thug quickly said, any loyalty he may have had for his boss overwhelmed by his fear for his own life. He quickly rattled off directions to the compound in question, which Shirou committed to memory.

"What sort of security measures does he have there?" Shirou asked.

"H-he's got about a dozen guys patrolling the place, maybe alarms on the door. I didn't really pay attention. P-please don't kill me…" the man blubbered.

"I'm not going to kill you," Shirou assured him as he lowered the knife. There was no sense terrorizing the man further, it was doubtful that he knew anything else. "Here's what you're going to do. You are not going to breathe a word of this to Gatō or anyone that works for him. What you're going to do is leave this village _quietly_ and never step foot in it again, understand?"

"Y-yes sir, I'll leave!" the thug stammered with a shaky nod. "I swear on my mama's grave that you'll never see me here again." Satisfied, Shirou waved him off and the man took off with a whimper, his assailant's words the only thing keeping him from screaming in terror all the way out of the village. Shirou allowed the knife to dissolve back into prana and his features to shift back to their normal appearance. It was time for him to pay Gatō a visit.

\----

Daisuke Yorumuchi, discount mercenary/"security guard" gave a heavy, bored sigh as he patrolled the upper level of Gatō's residence. The grounds were lit enough for him to see all the way to the woods, and he had a crossbow that he could use to snipe at any intruders with before sounding the alarm. This was one of the best paying gigs that Daisuke had ever had; that did not change the fact that his current assignment was boring as hell.

"See anything?" a voice asked, knocking him out of his reverie. He looked up to see Ishi Samuharu, his fellow "security guard" approaching.

"Nah," Daisuke replied. "I might've seen a squirrel earlier, but other than that? Not a thing."

"Well, that's more than I got," Ishi sighed as they both overlooked the woods. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, "What do you think about Gatō, anyway?" Daisuke gave a neutral shrug.

"Eh, he's a bastard, but he's a rich bastard, that's all I care about," he grunted.

"True," Ishi conceded with a shrug. "Still, I can't help but wonder about this bridge business. I mean, Gatō already controls all the waterways and is filthy rich to boot, why does he care so much about one stinking bridge?" he continued.

"Hey, I ain't paid to think about stuff like that, and neither are you," Daisuke admonished his colleague. "If Gatō hears that you've been asking question like that he'll get pissed, and I don't think you'll like his severance package." Something seemed to stir within the trees, prompting Daisuke to squint his eyes so that he could see better. "Hey, do you see somethi—" he began before something struck him right in the forehead, knocking him out cold. Ishi leapt back, startled.

"Son of a bi—" he blurted before he too was struck in the head and fell to the floor, unconscious.

\----

Five hundred meters away, in the woods beyond the reach of the lights, Shirou Emiya lowered his arms. In his left hand he held an ebon yumi longbow constructed from carbon polymers that had recently been invented in his home dimension. A gift from the Church along with his armor, the original version was at his home, but this Traced version still worked quite well. The arrows that he used were not traditional barbed arrows but rather specialized ones with large rubber heads that, while not lethal unless it impacted the eyes or throat, still imparted enough pain and force to render someone unconscious with a headshot. After dispelling the bow Shirou swiftly dashed toward the compound. Reinforcing his legs, he leapt up to the second story and climbed over the railing. He searched the two guards that he had just incapacitated for keys before he found a door and entered the compound.

Shirou carefully crept through the hallways, keeping a wary eye out for guards, traps, and surveillance cameras. He encountered two patrolling guards; one he allowed to pass him by, while the other he locked in a chokehold until he passed out so that he could move on. He figured that Gatō, being a man of wealth, would likely reside at the top of the compound, so he began making his way upward. His hunch proved correct when the top floor proved to be much more ostentatious than the rest of the building, with lush carpeting and statuary decorating the rooms and hallways. He peered around the corner of one hall to see two bored-looking guards standing vigil next to a pair of double doors; that was where his target most likely was. Tracing two hard rubber balls roughly the size of a tennis ball, Shirou rounded the corner and threw them, striking both guards in the forehead and dropping them like puppets with their strings cut. With no one else to stop him, Shirou marched forward and threw the doors open, eliciting a startled shriek from the sole occupant within. Sitting at a desk in the center of the opulent office was a short, dumpy man wearing an expensive suit and small round sunglasses, a shock of wild brown hair behind a receding hairline. One of his hands was bandaged like it had been recently broken.

"Who the hell are you?!" he demanded angrily. "Do you know who I am?!"

"Gatō I presume," Shirou said as he closed the doors behind him and discreetly barred them with a Traced steel bar between the handles.

"Damn right I am, and do you know what I do to cocky little asswipes like you?" the corrupt tycoon snarled as he reached for his telephone, probably to contact his security team. With a thought, a gladius suddenly fell from the sky and skewered the device, causing Gatō to pull his hand back with a shriek.

"You have caused a lot of hurt for the people of this country, Gatō," Shirou said calmly as he slowly stalked towards the businessman, forcing him to back up in fright, "and I'll make sure that you pay for your crimes. But first, I have a couple of questions that I need you to answer for me."

"Get back!" Gatō shouted as he wildly swung his cane to try and ward his assailant away. Shirou casually dodged the strikes and swooped around Gatō, knocking his cane away and pushing him down onto his desk with his good arm pulled behind him. "What do you want, money? I'll give you all the money you want!" he shouted desperately.

"I'm not interested in money, I want information," Shirou said as he held his target down. "First off, I want to know where Zabuza Momochi is."

"Z-Zabuza Momochi? I don't know who you're talking about!" Gatō gasped.

"I know you hired him to assassinate Tazuna," Shirou countered as he began to apply pressure on Gatō's wrist. "Now where is he?"

"All right, all right! He's got a place in the woods!" the pudgy criminal cried out. As Shirou's prompting, he gave detailed instructions on how to find Zabuza's hideout.

"Good, now the second question, how much were you going to pay him?" Shirou asked.

"Pay him?" Gatō repeated incredulously. "After he screwed up against that ninja and his brats, I wasn't going to pay that bastard a single mon!"

After a moment to contemplate that, Shirou said, "Okay, allow me to rephrase that. How much were you supposed to pay him?"

"Why do you want to— _augh!_ " he cried out as Shirou painfully squeezed on his wrist. "Three hundred! Three hundred thousand ryō! Gahh!" he screamed. "Who are you? One of those ninja freaks with a grudge or something?" he groaned.

"No," Shirou said flatly as he released Gatō's arm. "Just an ally of justice." Gripping Gatō's hair, he slammed the tycoon's face into his desk, knocking him out. After using his tie and belt as makeshift bindings, Shirou began to ransack the room to find a safe where Gatō could have hidden his cash. He soon found it hidden under a bookshelf, a large safe with a combination lock. Placing his hand on the safe door, Shirou muttered, " _Trace On_." Shirou found out that if he used Structural Grasp on combination locks to analyze their internal structure, he could visualize the locking plates and so figure out the combination. It was useful in high school for helping students deal with stubborn padlocks on their lockers, and was now proving equally useful for burglary. Placing his other hand on the dial, he began to turn.

\----

It was past daybreak by the time Shirou finally made it back to Tazuna's house, arriving just in time to find the master of the house leaving.

"There you are!" the old man shouted when he saw Shirou approaching. "You were out all night! Where the hell have you been?" he demanded.

"Had some things I needed to take care of," Shirou replied while stifling a yawn.

"Well don't think I'm going to go easy on you today just because you were out all last night," Tazuna grumbled as they made their way to the bridge. "You had my daughter worried sick! I have half a mind to fire you right now!"

"You don't pay me, remember?" Shirou quipped back.

"Quiet from you!" Tazuna continued to stew the rest of the journey, though his anger quickly turned to confusion when he saw an enormous crowd congregating at the bridge. Spotting someone he knew, he called out, "Tatsu! What's going on here?" The man, Tatsu, turned to Tazuna with a face so happy it bordered on rapturous.

"Tazuna, it's amazing! You have to see this!" Grabbing his hand, Tatsu dragged his friend through the crowd to show him what had captivated them so.

"It can't be…" the old man gasped, unable to believe what he saw.

Gatō was hanging from one of the cranes like a piñata, swaying in the breeze and bound from toe to shoulder in thick heavy ropes with a gag tied around his face. Tazuna turned to see Shirou wading his way through the crowd. The redhead gave his boss a slight, barely perceptible nod.

"Shirou, go home and send my family here, they need to see this," he ordered. As Shirou turned to complete his mission Tazuna added, "And Shirou? Thank you. Take the day off." Nodding in acknowledgement, Shirou nudged his way through the crowd and made his way back to Tazuna's house.

"Shirou!" Tsunami cried out when he walked through the door. "You're all right! Did something happen?"

"Your father wants you and your son down at the bridge right away," Shirou responded.

"Why, is something wrong?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"No, no, nothing's wrong," Shirou quickly assured her. "Some guy was found there all trussed up. I heard some people say that it was Gatō," he continued.

"That's impossible!" Inari shouted from the stairs. "Nobody can beat Gatō, nobody!" The young boy's eyes seemed to glitter with unshed tears.

"Well, your grandfather wants you two down there, so you can go and see for yourself," Shirou replied with a shrug. Tsunami quickly got herself ready and practically dashed out the door, her son not far behind. As he watched the two run towards the bridge, Shirou heard the rhythmic thumping of a man walking with crutches approaching from behind.

"So, some mysterious hero has brought Gatō to justice," Kakashi said casually as he hobbled his way to Shirou's side. "Would his do-gooder happen to have been wearing red by any chance?" he asked coyly.

"Maybe," Shirou replied neutrally.

"And Zabuza?" Kakashi continued. "Will we have to worry about him and his accomplice?"

"Don't worry about Zabuza," Shirou assured him. "I made certain that he won't bother us again."

\----

Dawn had just barely begun to rise by the time Shirou found Zabuza's hideout. It was a large house in a conical spiral, suspended between – and apparently built _around_ – several trees. Finding the doorway, Shirou was about to knock when the door opened, revealing a young woman about 15 years of age in a pink kimono with a black choker and a straw basket hanging on her arm. Judging by her surprised expression, she was clearly not expecting any visitors.

"Hello," Shirou greeted cheerfully. "I'm here to speak with Zabuza Momochi." The girl's expression instantly changed, hardening into a determined scowl. So this young woman was his partner. "Relax, I'm not armed," he tried to placate her, raising both his hands; one of them grasping a silver briefcase. The girl raised an unimpressed eyebrow; she knew just how little that statement meant for him. "I'm not here to fight, I just want to talk," Shirou continued as he slowly reached to open the briefcase, revealing it to be full of money. A calculating gaze flickered between him and the briefcase of cash before the girl stepped aside.

"Walk in front of me," she demanded. Closing the case, Shirou walked forward with the girl behind him, directing him where to go. Once they reached a door, the girl stepped around him and opened the door, leading him into a room that was sparsely furnished other than the bed in the center of the room.

"What is it, Haku?" the bed's occupant groaned before he turned his head. Upon seeing his visitor, Zabuza's unmasked face curled into a grin, revealing sharp, shark-like teeth. "So you managed to find me, eh? I'm impressed," Zabuza said. "So, you here to kill me?" he asked.

"He has something for us," the girl, Haku, corrected him. "May I?" she asked Shirou, a hand held out for the briefcase. He handed the case to her and, after opening it and shuffling the stacks of money around to check for pressurized traps, presented the offering to Zabuza. Slowly pulling himself into a seated position, the crippled ninja took the money and stared at it.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Three hundred thousand ryō," Shirou answered. "What Gatō said he owed you."

"You've spoken to Gatō, have you?" Zabuza asked with a chuckle. "All right, you've got my attention. What do you want?"

"I want you out," Shirou answered shortly. "Gatō's out of the picture and with that money, your contract is complete. I want you out of Wave as soon as you're able."

After a moment, Zabuza closed the briefcase and set it aside. "Well, I'm certainly glad to be out from under Gatō's thumb," he said with a wry chuckle, "that man was an _ass_. One question though. You clearly took out Gatō, and you managed to find this place, which means that you could have taken out me and Haku as well. So why didn't you?" he asked.

Shirou did not answer right away, crossing his arms over his chest as he took a moment to consider his answer. "I don't particularly care for you as a person," he eventually admitted, which elicited another laugh from Zabuza. "But I know about the bloodline purges in Kiri. I know that you tried to lead a coup against the Mizukage, a coup that ultimately failed. I also know that you're trying to raise enough money to bankroll a second attempt." Taking a deep breath, he continued, "My personal misgivings of you aside, I sympathize with your cause; I want you to succeed. But I _don't_ want that at the expense of someone that I swore to protect. I figured that this was the best way of getting everyone what they want. You get your money and Tazuna gets his life, everyone's happy." After considering his answer, Zabuza nodded in satisfaction.

"Haku says that I'll be recovered in three or four days, so once I'm back up to snuff we'll leave," he said. After a moment he added, "One other thing. From one swordsman to another, were you holding out on me during our fight on the lake?" he asked.

"Maybe," Shirou answered with a vague shrug.

"I thought so," Zabuza chuckled in response. "Well, let me tell you one thing. After this whole coup business is dealt with, I'm going to hunt you down and get a rematch, so don't you die before then," he demanded. Despite himself, Shirou gave a smile in response.

"I look forward to it," he said honestly. "Good luck with everything Zabuza, Miss Haku," he continued with a bow to each.

"Thank you," Haku said with a gracious smile. "Allow me to lead you out." The girl escorted Shirou to the exit and, just as he was about to leave, she added, "Oh and by the way, I'm a boy."

\----

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	5. Chapter 5

Soon after Shirou left the bridge, Gatō was cut down and quickly swarmed by the mob. He was beaten bloody and his bones broke beneath fist and foot before he was once more suspended by rope, this time by the neck.

The mercenaries under Gatō's employ quickly fled, none of them wishing to annoy the man who had snuck his way into the former tycoon's stronghold and spirited him away like a vengeful ghost, lest his ire fall upon them. Their departure went unnoticed by the villagers, who were too busy celebrating the demise of their oppressor. Sake flowed freely as the people toasted to their newfound freedom. Construction of the bridge was delayed for two days; one to celebrate, and the other to recover from the collective hangovers that resulted from the previous night's festivities. Despite the delays, with hope restored prospective workers flocked to the bridge, eager to see its completion. With the massive influx of labor, the bridge was completed ahead of schedule.

"So, where are you headed to next, Shirou?" Tazuna asked as everyone sat down for one final dinner. Inari, whose spirits had lifted tremendously after witnessing Gatō's death, was currently laughing at a joke that Naruto had said; his laughter was music to the old bridge builder's ears.

"I'm not sure, actually," Shirou admitted as he nibbled on his meal. "I'm running low on supplies though, so I'm going to have to stop somewhere soon to restock."

"You could come back to the village with us," Kakashi offered. Before him his bowl sat conspicuously bare, emptied of its contents in the brief moments that no one had their eyes on him. While Naruto seemed to enjoy the prospect of a new friend coming home with him, judging by the way that the blond boy had perked up at the offer, the man himself was much more reluctant.

"That's very kind of you to offer," Shirou said with an eyebrow raised in suspicion. "If I may ask, what prompted such generosity?"

Kakashi's eye curved in its traditional "smile". True to Shirou's suspicions, the ninja did have an ulterior motive to his offer. The man known as the Crimson Swordsman was an enigma to many, and by bringing him to Konoha, he could be covertly observed to learn more about him. Perhaps even enough to convince him to settle in the village permanently. Though he claimed to not be a ninja, Shirou was obviously a warrior of some skill to be able to stand up to Zabuza Momochi, and had a Kekkai Genkai to boot. By bringing him into the fold, Konoha would have secured a great asset, along with removing a potential one from their enemies.

But Shirou had no need to know that, so all Kakashi said in response was, "Oh you know, just being friendly."

After a few seconds of consideration, Shirou eventually nodded in acceptance. "I've got nowhere else to be, so I suppose I could visit for a couple of days," he conceded.

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered. "I can show you Hokage Rock, and Ichiraku's, and…" while Naruto continued to enthusiastically list all the places that he would take Shirou during his stay at the village, Kakashi poured himself a fresh cup of tea and basked in the peaceful domestic atmosphere.

With the bridge completed and with it their mission, Kakashi and his genin departed the Land of Waves the next day with Shirou accompanying them. Tazuna and his family followed them to the newly-completed bridge to see them off. Tazuna was saddened by Shirou's departure, lamenting the loss of a diligent worker. Bidding their goodbyes, the small group departed back to Konohagakure. Had Team Seven been by themselves, they could have taken to the treetops and made it back home within a few days. However, with an additional party member present they had to slow themselves down to accommodate him, stretching out their return journey.

That night, while they huddled near a small campfire to ward off the cool evening air, Sakura asked, "Hey Shirou, what's your home like?"

"Fuyuki?" Shirou replied. After a moment's consideration he answered, "It was nice. Pretty quiet most of the time," _secret wars over holy relics notwithstanding_ , he mentally added. "It was basically divided in half, a new district and an old district. I lived in the latter."

"Oh, so were your parents rich or something?" Sakura inquired, knowing that older, more traditional locales tended to attract the wealthy.

"Ehh, not really," Shirou said with a shrug. While Kiritsugu had amassed enough money during his mercenary days to live comfortably, compared to families such as the Tohsaka or the Einzbern, the Emiya family could hardly be considered affluent. "My dad knew the original owner of the house we lived in, so he got a pretty good deal," he continued. "I've also traveled a lot, so I've been lucky enough to see a lot of places…"

As he drifted off, Shirou's mind drifted to a village in Afghanistan where he and Rin were doing relief work. While they were there, a convoy of American soldiers rolled through. According to one of them, there was a group of insurgents causing trouble in the area, and he warned them to be careful. Thanking the friendly soldier, Shirou went and did some covert sleuthing. After several days and plying the lips of many people with magic and alcohol, both in the village he was assisting and the in the surrounding ones, Shirou had managed to track down where these insurgents were hiding. Sneaking away in the dead of night, Shirou ensured that those terrorists would never hurt anyone ever again.

"…Some nicer than others," he eventually finished.

"So what was your family like?" Sakura continued. "You mentioned your brother, but what about the rest of your family?"

"My family?" Shirou repeated in surprise. After a moment he said, "Archer and I were both adopted by my father. I…" Unbidden, Shirou's mind drifted to the Fire. His mental functions briefly seized as he was overwhelmed by the crackling roar of the cursed flames accompanied by agonized screams. Even now he could still recall the immense, oppressive heat, his mind wilting and crumbling as he found the will to drag one foot in front of the other, even as his flesh scorched and blackened. He could still recall that feeling of complete emptiness that he felt while lying on the ground, waiting helplessly to die when Kiritsugu swooped down like an angel to save him.

"…Shirou?" Sakura asked hesitantly, the redhead's silence unnerving her. Snapping back to reality, Shirou quickly shook the painful memories away.

"Sorry, got lost in my own head for a second there," he muttered absentmindedly. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I don't recall who my birth parents were, and Archer never mentioned them," he continued. "My dad died a few years later," he added casually. "A few years after that, some…things happened, and Archer died as well." He considered speaking of Ilya, Kiritsugu's daughter, but decided to keep that secret to himself. Noticing the looks of pity that Naruto and Sakura were giving him (Kakashi seemed to not be listening and Sasuke remained as stoic as ever), Shirou suddenly began to feel uncomfortable in his skin.

As if sensing the tense atmosphere, Kakashi seemed to take mercy on Shirou and chimed in, "You fought pretty well against Zabuza. Where'd you learn to fight?"

Grateful for the change of subject, Shirou answered, "Here and there, but mostly from my brother." It was true; even before he knew of Archer's relation to himself Shirou found that he had an uncanny affinity towards the dour Heroic Spirit's dual-sworded style, taking to them far more easily and naturally than kendo or his own Servant's European broadsword style. Noticing that their mound of firewood had dwindled to a few twigs, Shirou got up and said, "I'm going to go gather some more wood."

"I'll go with you," Sasuke said suddenly, surprising his teammates. Shrugging in acceptance, Shirou led his new helper deeper into the woods.

"Do you know how to find firewood?" Shirou asked as they picked through the brush.

Sasuke grunted in affirmation. "Don't grab branches with green on them; they've got too much water left in them to burn well," he said succinctly.

"Pretty much, yeah," Shirou agreed as he reached down to snatch up a short but stout branch that was long dead and dried up. For a few minutes, the only sound was the crunching of leaves and twigs under their feet.

"You and your brother, did you ever fight?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Shirou paused as he considered the question. "Sometimes I think all we ever did was fight," he finally said wryly, thinking of how Archer had irked him even when they were not on opposing sides. "We never really got along that well. But I'm guessing that's not what you meant, is it?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "Yeah, we crossed blades a few times. Why do you ask?"

"Was he strong?" Sasuke pressed.

"Yeah…" Shirou confirmed, his brow wrinkling in confusion.

"Did you ever beat him?" Sasuke continued to interrogate his companion.

"…Once," Shirou reluctantly admitted, looking down at his assistant with concern. "Why are you so interested in this subject?" he inquired.

" _How?_ " Sasuke demanded through gritted teeth. The furrows in Shirou's brow deepened at Sasuke's insistent tone.

"The situation between Archer and I was complicated," Shirou said, his voice hardening. "Now, I'm not willing to continue this discussion unless you tell me why you're so interested in knowing all this," he added firmly. Black eyes met amber as Sasuke glared defiantly at Shirou, but the swordsman's will would not waver. After almost a full tense minute passed, Sasuke lowered his gaze.

"Fine," he gritted out. He slowly told Shirou, in clipped, terse bits, about how his older brother Itachi had betrayed and slain his clan, leaving Sasuke as the sole survivor. Shirou could guess from there what Sasuke's goal was. He wanted to grow more powerful and avenge his clan, and saw Shirou as a potential path to achieve that growth. Sadly, the last scion of the Uchiha would have to be disappointed.

"Sasuke…" Shirou sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "I'm truly sorry for you; no one should have to suffer what you've been through—"

"Spare me your pity!" Sasuke spat angrily.

"…But I don't have the answers you're looking for," Shirou finished.

"But you said that your brother was strong!" Sasuke all but shouted. "Stronger than you, but you beat him! I want to – I need to know how!"

Shirou had not actually said that Archer was stronger than him, but he did not deny it for it was objectively true. The Heroic Spirit was far faster and stronger than Shirou was, and his untold eons as a Counter Guardian had allowed his alternate self to improve their shared Reality Marble to a point that Shirou himself could only dream to achieve. And yet in the end, the younger, more idealistic Shirou had emerged victorious from their duel amidst the ruins of the Einzbern manor ten years ago.

"Like I said, things between Archer and I were complicated," the redhead retorted. "It wouldn't apply to your situation."

"Then teach me how to be stronger!" Sasuke persisted, dropping his armful of branches in frustration. "You managed to beat back that Zabuza guy, teach me how to do that!"

" _No_ ," Shirou all but snarled in response, causing the Uchiha heir to reel back in surprise. Taking a deep, calming breath, he repeated more gently, "No. If you know how to use a sword, I can be a sparring partner if you want, but I absolutely _will not_ teach you my way of fighting. And as for Zabuza, I admit he was strong, but his skill with the blade was a far cry from some other people I've fought." Zabuza Momochi, for all his reputation and former title as a Swordsman of the Hidden Mist implied, actually utilized a rather simple style with Kubikiribōchō: Use stealth techniques to slip inside an opponent's defense and, should the initial strike fail, use speed and brute force to simply plow through any resistance. Because of this, Shirou had not had much opportunity during their fight to demonstrate the aspect of his technique that made it so effective and so dangerous.

"If you don't think I have what it takes to learn it, then—"

"You _don't_ ," Shirou interrupted Sasuke. And the redhead hoped that the boy never did have what it took to learn it. The secret to Shirou's style, able to successfully combat enemies far more powerful and skilled than Shirou himself was, was to provide a perfect defense everywhere except for one opening, funneling all attacks to that single vulnerable spot where they could be deflected and countered. It was effective, but also incredibly dangerous, for a single mistake would be almost invariably fatal. Because of this, Shirou refused to even consider teaching his technique to someone else, for he could not stomach the thought of someone else risking their lives as casually as he did. "I will not teach you how to fight like I do, and if I catch you trying to copy me, not only will I ensure that you never entertain a notion like that again, I will explain to your sensei exactly what you're trying to do so that he will keep an eye on you once we part ways. Am I clear?" he said sharply.

Sasuke wanted to protest, but he knew by now that the man would not budge on his stance, so he reluctantly conceded. "I understand," he grumbled.

"Good," Shirou replied, his good spirits returning. Evaluating his collection of firewood along with Sasuke's discarded pile, he continued, "It looks like we've got enough to last the night. Gather your stuff and let's get back to camp; they're probably wondering where we've gotten off to by now." With a grunt of acknowledgement, Sasuke gathered his fallen loot and followed Shirou back to camp.

"There you are!" Kakashi said cheerfully. "I was just about to send a search party out for you. I thought I heard some shouting earlier, is everything all right?" he asked.

"Just a conversation that got a little heated, that's all," Shirou said as he dropped his wood into a pile and threw a few branches into the fire.

"Oh? Must have been some conversation; Sasuke doesn't usually raise his voice like that," Kakashi commented, peering over the top of his book. Without waiting for a response, the silver-haired ninja buried his nose back into his book, making no sounds except for the occasional giggle.

\----

The rest of the journey passed without incident. Sasuke had not accosted Shirou about helping him again and the other two genin seemed content to fill the air with small talk. On the last day of their journey they saw a hawk flying above them, causing Kakashi to mutter something under his breath, though Shirou was too far away to hear exactly what.

As they finally approached the village, Shirou could not help but be impressed. A great stone wall stretched as far in either direction as the eye could see and the path was barred by two enormous red doors so tall that, even if Shirou and the entirety of Team Seven were to stand on each other's shoulders, they would barely reach halfway up the barricades. Kakashi brought them up to a small guard shack and, after Shirou answered a few routine questions regarding his business in the village, the doors opened with a deep groan, granting them entry to the village proper. The streets were filled with people, civilian and shinobi alike, going about their business in the shops and restaurants that lined the roads. Far into the village Shirou could see a large, vaguely rounded structure – probably the village's central government building judging by its size and elevated location, Beyond it was a sheer cliff; carved into the side was four visages, vaguely reminding Shirou of Mount Rushmore in the United States.

As Shirou pondered the significance of such a landmark, Kakashi turned to his team and said, "I'm going to go meet the Hokage and let him know of our mission success. Why don't you go show Shirou around the village while I take care of that?" Like a starting pistol, this put a shot of energy into Naruto, who grabbed Shirou's hand and practically dragged the redhead away, talking about all the sights of the village with his two teammates lagging behind. Chuckling at the blond's enthusiasm, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke. He had a very important conversation to have with the Hokage, after all.

\----

Kakashi reappeared at the entrance of the Hokage Tower and let himself in. Fortunately for him, the leader of the village was not doing anything more important than tackling the seemingly endless paperwork that hounded him and welcomed the distraction.

"Kakashi, glad to see you're back," the wizened leader said as he lit up his pipe. "How did your mission go?"

"We ran into some complications, but it worked out all right in the end," Kakashi responded.

"'Complications?' Do tell," the Hokage prompted. And so Kakashi told him about the brothers that had attacked them, and the situation with Gatō, and the appearance of Zabuza Momochi. He mentioned how Gatō was found strung up one day, and Zabuza's coinciding disappearance; he also mentioned a certain redheaded swordsman that they had encountered and was now a guest of the village.

"And you're certain that he's the Crimson Swordsman?" the Hokage demanded.

"As certain as I can be, yes," Kakashi affirmed. "I haven't seen the armor, but the swords and general demeanor both match what the rumors describe, and Zabuza identified him as such during their battle."

"I see," the Hokage hummed as he puffed on his pipe. "Tell me more about this Bloodline Limit of his, this ' _Mugen no Kensei_.'" Kakashi informed his leader of what little he knew about Shirou's strange ability. "Hmm, a warrior skilled and powerful enough to beat back Zabuza Momochi and possessing an unusual Kekkei Genkai would be a great boon for this village. Tell me, how long does this Shirou Emiya plan to stay here?"

"He said he was only planning on staying for a few days to resupply," Kakashi answered with a shrug. "I've got the kids taking him on the Konoha Grand Tour right now."

"I see," the Hokage said again with a light chuckle. Glancing at the clock he added, "Unfortunately, this is a topic that we'll have to revisit another time, for something more pressing is about to be addressed." As if on cue the office door opened to admit three more people. The first was a tanned man in his thirties, a half-smoked cigarette hanging loosely from lips surrounded by a scruffy brown beard. Behind him was a woman with voluptuous ebony hair contrasted by crimson eyes and a body covered with bandages; even her ample bust was not entirely contained by the wrappings. The last was a large, muscle-bound man with a bowl-cut and wearing a green spandex bodysuit with bright orange leg warmers.

"Kakashi, my old rival!" the spandex wearer cried out upon spotting the silver-haired ninja. "It pleases me to see that you have returned from your mission safe and sound."

"Hmm, did you say something, Guy?" Kakashi asked casually, as if only just noticing the other man's presence.

"GAH!" the other man cried out. "Curse you and your hip coolness, Kakashi," he groused good-naturedly. Beside him, the smoker slowly raised a trembling finger at Kakashi, shock clearly showing on his face.

"Wha…How did…" the man stammered incoherently. "Is the sky falling?" he asked to no one in particular as he looked out the window. "The world must be ending if _Kakashi_ managed to beat us to a meeting." Beside him the woman, wearing a similar expression of shock, could only nod weakly in agreement.

"Oh come on guys, I'm not that bad, am I?" Kakashi groaned.

" ** _YES, YOU ARE!_** " every other occupant in the room shouted as one.

"…Oh."

"Kakashi's tardiness issues aside," the Hokage said, bringing everyone's attention to him, "he happened to be meeting with me on an unrelated matter. As I'm sure you all know, the Chūnin Exams will be starting in two weeks. Do any of you wish to nominate your teams today?" he asked.

"I, Asuma Sarutobi, do nominate Team Ten," said the bearded man proudly.

"I, Kurenai Yūhi, do nominate Team Eight," said the woman, equally proudly.

"I, Might Guy, do nominate Team Nine!" said the spandex-clad man exuberantly with a thumbs-up. All eyes turned to Kakashi.

"I, Kakashi Hatake…" he began before thinking, was his team really ready to be promoted to chūnin? They had only one combat experience so far, which they survived mostly through luck and Shirou distracting Zabuza. Besides the newly-learned tree walking technique, they only knew one or two other jutsus apiece, and Kakashi had no plans on teaching them anything more dangerous than water-walking until they could learn to act as a team for more than a couple of minutes before collapsing on each other. With that thought, he made his decision, "…do _not_ nominate Team Seven."

\----

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	6. Chapter 6

The reaction was immediate: all three other jōnin-senseis exclaimed in shock over their colleague's announcement, and even the Hokage raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You don't share your colleagues' faith in your students, Kakashi?" the village leader asked.

"Maybe if they had better teamwork I would," Kakashi admitted with a shrug, "but right now they work together about as well as a bag of cats – Naruto and Sasuke in particular. And they don't exactly have the skill or strength to make up for it." A thick, muscled hand attached to a green-sleeved arm clasped itself on Kakashi's shoulder.

"Do not despair, my old rival," Guy said reassuringly. "I too struggled when I first received my genin team. Sometimes it takes time for the embers of youth to be fanned into a roaring flame, but I have confidence that soon your genin will be a blazing conflagration!"

"Uhh…thanks, Guy," Kakashi said awkwardly as he brushed the hand off his shoulder.

"Well, I suppose I cannot fault you for that logic," the Hokage muttered mostly to himself as he puffed on his pipe. Turning to the other jōnin he continued, "In light of that, do any of you wish to reconsider your nominations?"

Guy immediately responded with a thumbs-up and a wide, brilliant smile. "My team has been working together for nearly a year and they have completed several C-Ranks. Lee and Neji still have their rivalry, but I believe that they can work together if necessary. I maintain my nomination."

Asuma was momentarily unnerved by Kakashi's declaration but quickly recollected himself. "I also maintain my nomination. My kids are a bit of a pain to motivate, but once they get going their teamwork is solid. Between my training and the clan techniques they learn at home, I think they're skilled enough to tackle any surprises," he said confidently.

Kurenai however was much less certain, glancing between Asuma and Kakashi worriedly. After a few seconds of consideration she dipped her down in defeat and said, "I…rescind my nomination." While Asuma looked at her in shock, the Hokage merely nodded his head in acceptance.

"Very well," he said as he made a notation, "that's two teams nominated. You are all dismissed." Guy and Kakashi vanished in twin puffs of smoke, the former to inform his team of the news while the latter went off to tend to his own affairs. Asuma and Kurenai instead decided to vacate the Hokage's office on foot together.

"Kurenai, what happened?" Asuma asked as they walked in step with each other. "I thought you were excited about nominating your team."

"I was," his companion replied, "but after hearing Kakashi say why he didn't nominate his team, I wasn't so sure. I think that when you told me you were going to nominate your team, you were so excited that I just got swept up in it without thinking," she admitted with a sigh.

"What are you worried about? Your team's great!" Asuma insisted.

"Yes, but are they great enough?" the crimson-eyed kunoichi countered. "They work well together and they're competent enough with their jutsus, but I've mostly trained them for stealth and recon work. Kiba's too confident in himself and Hinata's not confident enough, so if they get into a situation that they can't sneak out of, I'm not sure if they can fight their way out of it."

Asuma sighed at Kurenai's fretting before slinging an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

"'Nai, I know you're worried about your kids, I get that, but you're going to have to let them grow up eventually."

"I know," Kurenai groaned, "but…not just yet. At the rate they're going, they'll probably be ready for next year's exams."

"And I'm sure they'll knock the competition out of the water," Asuma reassured her. Releasing his grip on her shoulders he added, "I've got to go tell my team the good news. Catch up with you later?"

"Yeah," Kurenai agreed, "later." She gave Asuma a quick peck on the lips before they both went their separate ways, disappearing in twin puffs of smoke.

\----

The first thing that Naruto did once Kakashi disappeared was grab Shirou by the hand and drag him deeper into the village, exhibiting a surprising amount of strength for a boy his size. Sasuke soon went off in a different direction, Sakura close behind. As he was being pulled away, Shirou thought he heard Sakura ask Sasuke out on a date, but he was too far away to hear the boy's response.

Their first destination was to a small, open-air ramen stand large enough to sit roughly six people. It was run by an old man named Teuchi Ichiraku and his young daughter Ayame. The young blond had nothing but praise for the tiny restaurant; he often spoke excitedly about it on the journey back from the Land of Waves. The owners of the stand seemed to hold Naruto in similarly high regard, greeting the young blond like an old friend.

"Welcome back, Naruto!" Teuchi said as his favored customer settled in. "It's been a while since you came here, I was worried you'd forgotten about us!" he jibed.

"Never!" Naruto retorted, aghast at such a prospect.

Chuckling at the boy's reaction, he turned to Shirou and said, "Welcome to Ichiraku's, stranger. Do you know Naruto?"

Before Shirou could answer, Naruto interjected, "Yeah! We ran into him on our way to our mission, and he's awesome! He can summon swords and he's really good with 'em. He fought this really big, scary guy…" While Naruto continued to regale his audience with his tale of Team Seven's encounter with Zabuza, complete with wild gesticulations and sound effects, Shirou perused the menu. It seemed to be a fairly simple setup: pick your serving size, broth flavor and choice of meat, with an extra charge for additional or premium garnishes.

"Well, that's quite a tale, Naruto," Ayame said before turning to Shirou. "Any friend of Naruto's is welcome here. What can I get you?" Shirou decided on getting a small beef ramen without extra garnishes while Naruto remained silent. Apparently, the boy frequented this particular establishment long enough that the owners knew what he wanted without needing to ask.

Within minutes, a steaming bowl of ramen was placed before both diners. Naruto dug into his own bowl with the gusto of a starving man, a bowl which Shirou noted was much bigger than his own.

Shirou took a sampling of his own meal and his eyebrows rose in delighted surprise. The noodles were firm and plump, al dente without being too mushy or crunchy. The broth was perfectly salted with just a hint of sweetness and the slightest touch of cilantro and cumin. The beef, though sliced thinly, was not overcooked in the slightest. While Shirou could honestly claim that he was a rather skilled chef, a product of having to cook for himself and others since he was a young boy, he doubted that he could hope to match this level of skill, not without a lot of practice at least. The only time he could recall eating ramen better than this was a few years ago, at a small restaurant in England. Shirou could not recall the restaurant's name or what exactly he ordered, just a vague recollection of blissful nirvana.

He was pretty sure he was drugged at the time though. He could think of no other explanation as to why the establishment was staffed by three-foot-tall talking cats.

Within half an hour Naruto had inhaled four more of those large bowls of ramen and Shirou himself, despite his more sedate pace and relative lack of appetite, ended up having a second portion as well. Shirou pulled out his wallet to pay for his meal, noting that he only had roughly 700 ryō left. _Looks like I'm going to have to find some work somewhere soon_ , he thought to himself as he extracted the appropriate funds. While he was more than willing to help people without payment as he demonstrated with Tazuna and was a capable survivalist besides, Shirou knew that if he were to spend any amount of time in civilization, he would need money, which he was currently woefully low on.

Now refueled, Naruto was brimming with energy as he dragged Shirou throughout the village without any thought as to his destination, simply showing him whatever random spot the young blond found interesting. Shirou took the boy's enthusiasm in good humor, though his arm was starting to ache from being constantly yanked around. As they passed by some open fields that were used as training grounds, Shirou spotted something that made him give the first sign of resistance all day.

There were three teenagers, all a year or two older than Naruto, training in the field. One was lean yet powerful, his toned muscles evident through the green spandex jumpsuit that he wore. It was complemented by a pair of bright orange leg warmers. His hair was styled in a bowl cut and he sported a pair of eyebrows so large and thick they were two black rectangles above his eyes. He was currently punching a log with such speed that Shirou had difficulty tracking the individual blows and with such strength that each strike pummeled a deep dent into the wood and sent a cloud of splinters flying.

The second was a pale boy with long, flowing hair. His eyes seemed to be pure white, making Shirou wonder if perhaps the boy was blind. He was dressed in a khaki vest and matching shorts. He practiced alone, moving within his self-designated area with smooth, graceful motions, almost like dancing, punctuated with quick, sharp jabs. Based on his movements, Shirou posited that the boy's style likely relied on slipping around an opponent's defenses before striking at vulnerable spots or pressure points, a potentially deadly technique. Shirou recalled someone from his youth who fought in a similar manner: Kuzuki Souichirou, a former assassin-turned-school teacher and master of Caster during the Holy Grail War that Shirou fought in. With his own wild, unpredictable fighting style augmented by his Servant's magic Souichirou, a man with no magical talent whatsoever was able to gravely wound Shirou's Servant Saber and outright slay the Servant Rider, a feat that many would have considered impossible.

It was the third member of the group that gave Shirou pause. It was a girl, her hair bound in two buns and wearing a Chinese-style sleeveless blouse. Before her were numerous targets, stacked above and behind each other; smaller rings were drawn on the thin posts between the larger round targets. The girl was standing, eyes closed and a serene look on her face. Suddenly in a burst of movement, she acted. Reaching into the numerous pouches on her waist she flung shuriken, kunai, and senbon needles with lightning speed, each making a solid thud as they struck wood. Once her supplies were depleted she pulled out a scroll and leapt into the air, the parchment fluttering beneath her. On the scroll were numerous scribbles that Shirou recognized as storage seals. With puffs of smoke more weapons appeared from the scroll which the girl snatched up and flung at the targets below. At first they were weapons like the kunai and senbon that she was using before, but she quickly started throwing more esoteric weapons like large fūma shuriken, axes, short swords, sickles, and other weapons one typically did not use for throwing, each one scanned and added to the Unlimited Blade Works. It was an unusual style, one that Shirou had only seen three times before: Once by a haughty, golden king, another by a bitter crimson guardian, and himself, the idealistic young hero that had defeated them both. Soon the girl returned to Earth, the unraveled scroll fluttering around her. Before her were 50 targets with 50 weapons embedded in them, each one stuck dead center. Impressed, Shirou could not help but give applause to the performance, catching the teens' attention.

"Hello, can I help you?" she asked as she began to roll the scroll back up.

"Sorry," Shirou apologized, "I just saw your performance now and I couldn't help myself."

"Oh, um…thanks," the girl said, her face growing pink. Turning to the blond boy next to him, she added, "Hey Naruto, it's been a while."

"Hey, um…" Naruto greeted back before awkwardly trailing off, obviously struggling to remember the girl's name.

After a few moments she took pity on him and said, "It's Tenten. Remember, we were at the Academy together a couple of years ago? Nice to see you finally graduated." Recognition finally dawned on Naruto's face.

"Oh yeah, now I remember you!" he exclaimed.

Turning her attention back to Shirou, Tenten said, "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Shirou," the redhead introduced himself as he extended his hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Shirou," Tenten said as she shook the offered hand. "These are my teammates Lee and Neji," she said, pointing to the green-clad boy and long-haired boy respectively. Lee gave a cheerful wave in greeting before resuming his assault on the half-broken log while Neji gave a brief nod of acknowledgement before resuming his drills. "So what brings you around here?" she asked.

"I'm in town for a couple of days," Shirou answered with a shrug, "and Naruto was nice enough to show me around. "When I saw you practicing, I couldn't help but be impressed; not too many people have that sort of accuracy, especially at your age. It kind of reminds me of someone I fought in the past," he continued.

"Thanks, I worked really hard on – wait, what?" she blurted as what Shirou said sunk in. Suddenly her demeanor of genial politeness shifted into one of genuine interest and excitement. "You've really fought another like me? I thought I was the only one who did this! Who were they? Were they strong? Guy-sensei's great, but he's not a weapons master so I've just been trying to figure things out on my own. Can you give me some pointers?" she quickly rattled off as she stepped ever closer.

"Uhh…y-yeah," Shirou stammered, instinctively leaning away from her. "He was one of the strongest enemies I've ever faced." Tenten seemed to get even more excited at that statement.

"How strong?" she demanded, stars sparkling in her eyes. Shirou pondered the question. The King of Heroes' infinite vault no doubt contained all manner of weapons and artifacts that could easily erase a village or city from existence. But discounting them all, there was still one weapon that stood above all. Ea, a twisted, alien thing, a Sword that was Not A Sword, containing enough power to shatter a world. In all his years, Shirou had never seen anything so powerful and dangerous. Even the strongest of Dead Apostles paled in comparison to the awesome might of Gilgamesh and his Sword of Rupture.

Shirou was knocked from his ruminating when a loud, boisterous voice said, "Hello, my youthful friend! What brings you around here on this fine day?" Startling slightly at the loud voice, he turned towards the source to find himself staring at what seemed to be an older version of Lee, identical in general appearance and wardrobe save for a pocket-laden vest.

"Guy-sensei!" the green-clad boy exclaimed as he rushed over eagerly. Looking between the two, Shirou silently wondered if they were father and son; at the very least, Lee idolized his teacher enough to mimic his appearance.

"Guy-sensei, this is Shirou," Tenten introduced to her teacher. "He was just telling me about how he fought someone that he says fought like I do."

"Really? Excellent!" Guy shouted before leaning closer to Shirou. Quietly he added, "I try my best to train all my students equally, but I'm afraid that I'm not as skilled with weapons as Tenten, so I can't help her as much as I would like. It's good you're helping her." Stepping back and resuming his normal volume, he continued, "Also, I have some good news for you all. Neji, if you could come here a moment." The long-haired boy abruptly ceased his katas and came up, sporting a look of mild annoyance; it reminded Shirou of Sasuke somewhat.

"What is it, sensei?" he asked.

Clearing his throat, Guy declared, "You should know that, as of a few minutes ago, I have nominated you all for the Chūnin exams in two weeks."

"Really, Guy-sensei?" Lee asked, tears of hopeful joy welling up in his eyes.

"Indeed, Lee," Guy confirmed with a nod. "You three have performed admirably this past year, and I believe that you have what it takes to go to the next level." Lee's body began to tremble as he was overcome by emotion.

"Guy-sensei!" he cried out as he began running towards his mentor.

"Lee!" Guy cried out as he too began to run towards his pupil.

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

" _LEE!_ "

" ** _GUY-SENSEI!_** " As the duo leapt into each other's arms, the background suddenly changed to a rock outcropping on the ocean. A scarlet sunset illuminated the scene as a great wave crashed over the rocks.

Shirou stared nonplussed at the odd display before taking in the reactions of the other observers. Neji was pointedly staring in the opposite direction of the spectacle while Tenten had her face buried in her hands out of embarrassment. Naruto sported a look that Shirou could only describe as shell-shocked. His normally lightly-tanned skin was ashen, his jaw hung open loosely, and it seemed as though his eyes had rolled back into his head, for Shirou saw only a pair of blank white orbs.

After Naruto regained control of his faculties, Tenten turned to Shirou and said, "Look, do you have any advice for me? I could really use the edge for the Chūnin exams." Seeing her pleading look, any resolve that Shirou might have had soon crumbled.

"All right, I might be able to help," he relented. "I'll need to spar with you first though; I need to know where your skill level is at first before I can give any advice. If that's all right with your sensei, of course," he added, deferring to Guy. The green-wearing man rubbed his chin as he considered the offer.

"I admit, it is a most generous offer," Guy said, "however, I am uncertain. Although Tenten is only a genin, she is quite proficient with her weapons, and I would hate for you, a guest in this village to be hurt."

"Don't worry about me," Shirou assured the hesitant shinobi, "I'm tougher than I look." Bolstered by the redhead's confident words, Guy slowly nodded his head.

"Then as long as I referee the match, I don't think there will be any problem," he decided. The genin cleared away the targets that Tenten was using for practice along with the log that Lee was beating on, now smashed enough that it was good only for firewood. Shirou and Tenten stood roughly ten feet away from each other with Guy between them. Lee, Neji, and Naruto were a safe distance away to witness the match, Naruto holding Shirou's satchel.

"In order for me to properly evaluate your skill level, I need to see everything that you're capable of," Shirou informed Tenten, "so I need you to hit me with everything you've got. Attack with the intent to kill, hold nothing back. If you don't, nto only will I not be able to accurately judge your skills, you will most certainly lose." Tenten suddenly appeared much more nervous about continuing with the fight.

Guy shared her reservations. "Your condition is most youthful, my friend, but I cannot in good conscience allow that. Despite your confidence, I do not know if you are more skilled than a genin, or if you are even a ninja at all." Shirou considered that development. On the one hand, he could understand Guy's hesitance. On the other hand, he needed Tenten to go all out in order for him to figure out where her strengths and weaknesses were. To assuage the jōnin's fears, Shirou would have to do something that he took little pleasure in: bragging.

"Would it help you to know that I fought Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Bloody Mist to a standstill a few weeks ago?"

"Really?" exclaimed both Guy and Tenten, the former in surprise and the latter in delight.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted from the sidelines. "It was totally awesome too!" Guy considered this new information for a moment.

"Very well," he said. "If you can stand up to someone like Zabuza Momochi then I believe you should be fine. Now, this match will continue until one participant is either unconscious or surrenders. Do either of you have any questions?" He waited for several seconds for either participant to voice any questions or concerns and received none. "Very well then." He slowly raised his hand and swung it down in a chopping motion. "BEGIN!"

\----

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	7. Chapter 7

“ _BEGIN!_ ”

Neither combatant acted, instead standing silently waiting for the other to make the first move. Tenten’s body was tense and fingers flexed anxiously, eager to draw a blade and throw it. Shirou by contrast was relaxed but alert, his hands curled as if ready to grasp something not yet there. The air grew heavy, thick with tension and anticipation.

With speed that would make any quick-draw shooter green with envy, Tenten reached into her pockets and flung four shuriken towards Shirou, the spinning stars buzzing through the air like deadly steel wasps.

“ _Trace…On_ ,” Shirou intoned, bringing his hands together as if to grasp a single weapon. Prana filled the space between his hands and shaped itself into the form of a long, elegant nodachi with a hilt and tassel of gold and dark blue. It was the blade of the Assassin during the Fifth Holy Grail War, derogatorily named the Monohashi Zao, the Laundry-Drying Pole, for its unwieldy length of 150 centimeters. With a single graceful swing, Shirou knocked away all four projectiles before bringing the sword back to its original position.

Tenten scowled and began a rapid barrage of shuriken, kunai, and senbon, a flurry of metal flying through the air. But Shirou warded off every single attack, his blade swaying like a stalk of grass in the wind as it batted away every weapon like they were flies. Even though he was not a true Heroic Spirit, the sword’s original owner was without a doubt the best swordsman in the Holy Grail War, and Shirou doubted that he could replicate the False Assassin’s ultimate technique even with his unique abilities. But knocking away a few throwing knives was child’s play.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Shirou asked lightly when the last projectile fell. Tenten growled at his apparent taunt.

“Not even close!” she replied as she reached into her pockets and drew out two small scrolls. “Wait until you see my ultimate attack!” She placed the scrolls on the ground and quickly began to contort her hands to flip through the seals to activate her technique. Shirou frowned; that was something he may have to bring up. If the fight they were in now was a duel to the death, in the time it would take for Tenten to complete her technique, he probably could have crossed the distance and struck her down already. But this was an evaluation, not a death match, so he waited patiently for her to complete her move. At her last seal she chanted, “Rising Twin Dragons!”

An explosion of smoke suddenly filled the field, obscuring Shirou’s vision. Rising above the cloud were two dragons made of smoke, swirling around each other as they rose. The smoke cleared away to reveal the two scrolls that Tenten had placed on the ground, now unraveled and hanging in the air. Tenten leapt up in between the scrolls, running her fingers along the surface as she rose. Dozens of weapons of all types emerged from the scrolls for her to fling at Shirou. The speed was not bad for being hand-thrown, but compared to Gilgamesh, whose Gate of Babylon could fire a near-infinite amount of weapons, it was like comparing a BB gun to a machine gun. Between his sword’s length and his speed, Shirou was able to easily brush aside the oncoming storm; no object got closer than a sword’s length to him. Tenten landed with a grunt as her scrolls fluttered down around her, panting with exertion.

Clenching her fists, she pulled her hands back, making the fallen weapons rise into the air. Shirou Reinforced his eyes slightly and spotted the thin, nearly invisible wires wrapped around Tenten’s fingers that connected her to her weapons. Her weapons swayed and flailed like demented puppets with Tenten as their puppeteer, twitching and swaying her fingers to move them to her will. As the weapons surrounded Shirou in a cloud of sharpened steel, he thought to himself that it was a clever move; however, it had a fatal flaw. With a single swipe of his nodachi, Shirou severed all the wires at once, causing the blades to fall to the ground lifelessly.

“Is that it?” Shirou asked. Instead of answering, Tenten pulled out another scroll from one of her many pouches. Opening it, she summoned a metal quarterstaff and held it protectively across her body. “I see,” he said as the Monohashi Zao dissolved into prana, reforming into Kanshou and Bakuya. “I guess it’s time to see how well you do on the defensive.”

Reinforcing his legs, Shirou shot forward, leaving a cloud of dirt in his wake. Sword met staff in a mighty clang that echoed throughout the field. Had Shirou Traced his swords as they were meant to be, it no doubt would have sliced through the metal pole like butter and cleaved the wielder beneath it, but the swordsman had modified them slightly. Using Alteration, he blunted the edges of his swords, making them no sharper than a butter knife.

Knees buckling under the strength of the blow, Tenten leapt out from under Shirou’s blade and thrust the end of her staff towards his face, which he batted aside with Kanshou. He gave a low swing with Bakuya which Tenten blocked, using the momentum of the swing to bring her staff up to try and strike Shirou in the neck, which he dodged. He retaliated with a straight thrust to the abdomen, forcing Tenten to leap back to avoid being skewered. Before she could respond Shirou threw Kanshou at her, the sword slicing through the air with a whipping sound. Tenten knocked the flying blade aside and charged forth, grasping one end of the staff with both hands like a baseball bat. She swung with all her might, but her attack was stopped cold when Shirou grasped onto the other end of the staff. He immediately yanked it back, causing Tenten to stumble towards him. He released his hold on the staff to grasp the front of her shirt and effortlessly toss her over his shoulder, snatching the returning Kanshou from the air as she impacted the ground.

“I’ve seen enough,” Shirou said as his swords dissolved into motes of light. Ignoring Tenten’s groan of pain he turned to Guy and said, “I forfeit.”

“What?!” Tenten shouted from her place on the ground. Her pain forgotten, she quickly pulled herself back onto her feet. “But we’re just getting started!” she protested.

“The point of this spar was to evaluate your skill level,” Shirou reminded her. “Now that I’ve seen what you can do, there was no point in dragging it on any further.”

“But-but…ugh, fine,” she groaned in defeat. “So what’s your verdict?” she asked with a pout.

Shirou considered his answer for a moment before responding. “You’ve definitely got potential,” he said, causing the girl to perk up, “but you’re slow.” When Tenten tilted her head in confusion, he elaborated, “When you used that technique, Rising Twin Dragons, I could have easily cut you down while you were winding up that move. You should figure out a way to reduce or eliminate the startup time. At the very least, try to figure out a way to do it on the move; staying immobile for that long is just asking for someone to take you down.”

“Okay…” Tenten said, latching onto every word he said.

“Secondly, your throwing technique isn’t bad, but again it’s fairly slow. Plus the weapons that you used are fairly light, so a strong wind would be enough to knock them off course. I suggest either getting heavier weapons or figuring out a way to launch them faster.”

“I see…” the girl said as she began to turn ideas over in her head. “Maybe if I modified the storage seal I could…” Shirou waited patiently while Tenten muttered ideas to herself. “Sorry,” she said when she realized that she was drifting off, “anything else?”

“Yeah,” Shirou replied. “The thing with the strings was actually pretty clever. It could be a good way to confuse and overwhelm your opponent. However, as I demonstrated strings can be cut. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to help you improve on that front.”

“Some shinobi from Sunagakure can manipulate puppets for combat using threads of chakra,” Guy interjected, rubbing his chin in thought. “However, it takes a great deal of skill and control, and I am not certain if we even have any texts on that practice here.”

“Interesting,” Shirou quipped before returning his focus to Tenten. “So yeah, that’s all the advice I have. Good luck on your exams, all of you,” he said, nodding to each of her teammates in turn. “Where to next, Naruto?” he asked as he and the blond turned to depart.

“Wait!” Tenten shouted, halting their steps. When Shirou turned back in confusion she continued, “Please teach me!”

“…Eh?” he grunted dumbly.

Tenten began to fidget uncomfortably. “It’s just…I could really use a tutor for the Chūnin Exams, and you really seem to know your stuff. If it’s money you’re worried about, I can pay you!” She insisted before digging out her wallet. She checked her available funds and mentally tallied how much she had stored away elsewhere. “I can pay you two hundred ryō a day. Will that work?” she asked.

Shirou was internally conflicted. On the one hand, he was wary of lingering in the village for a few reasons. In addition to feeling that he was most useful on the road helping people he encountered, what he had gathered about ninjas, particularly those who wielded power both physically and politically, reminded him an awful lot of the magi back home: Powerful, connected, and generally unscrupulous in pursuit of their goals. Back home, Shirou had to be careful not to reveal the nature of his abilities, for if anyone found out about his Reality Marble, the best he could hope for was to be eliminated for tampering with forbidden magic. That caution transferred into this realm as wariness for lingering around large groups of ninja, especially since he was currently in the stronghold of what he had heard was the strongest of the five major ninja powers.

On the other hand, this young girl before him was asking for his help right now. And he really did need the money.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” he sighed, eliciting a cheer of joy from Tenten. “We can start tomorrow. Oh, do any of you know anyplace cheap I can spend the night at?” he asked.

“How cheap are you talking?” Tenten asked.

Shirou checked through his wallet and said, “I’ve got about four hundred ryō left.” No one answered as they struggled to think of someplace that would house someone for so little. Surprisingly, it was Naruto who spoke up first.

“You know, there’s this one place I stayed at when my pipes burst a few years ago that was really cheap,” he said. “But the room smelled funny, I itched everywhere for weeks afterwards, and the people in the room next door were making really weird noises.” Everyone turned towards Naruto, shocked that he would be anywhere near a place like that. Except for Lee, who was just confused.

“I do not understand,” he said while scratching his head.

“I will explain it to you when you’re older, Lee,” Guy said to him. “For now, do not worry about it.”

“…You know, the weather has been really lovely lately,” Shirou finally said. “I think I’ll just sleep outside tonight.”

“Actually, you could stay at my place tonight,” Naruto offered. When Shirou looked down at him in surprise he continued, “I mean, it’s kind of small, so you’ll have to sleep on the floor, but it’s better than sleeping outside, right?” he finished with a nervous chuckle.

“Thank you for offering, Naruto,” Shirou said with a smile, “but I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“It’s no problem!” the blond insisted. “And it’s just for one night. Tomorrow we can go see the Old Man. I’m sure he’ll find someplace for you, he knows everything in this village.” Seeing Shirou’s look of confusion he added, “I mean, the Hokage! He’s really cool; you’ll like him, Shirou.” The redhead was not so certain, but Naruto obviously held the village leader in high regard, so he kept his reservations to himself.

“Well, if you insist, Naruto,” Shirou conceded before turning to Tenten. “When and where do you want me to meet you for your first session?”

“You can just meet me here at about three ‘o clock,” the bun-haired girl replied.

“‘Til then,” Shirou said with a nod as he turned to leave.

“Wait!” Tenten cried out, halting Shirou once more. “That thing you did with the nodachi in the beginning, that was really cool. Where’d you learn that?” she asked. At first Shirou did not answer, and Tenten wondered if it was a sore subject for him, until he turned to face her. His eyes were closed and he had the barest hint of a smile, as if he knew some great secret that she did not.

“…I learned it on temple steps from a nameless samurai,” he said before finally leaving; no one stopped him a third time.

Tenten blinked in confusion, mulling over his words for some hidden meaning. Finding none, she turned to her teammates and said, “Help me clean up this mess, will you guys?”

\----

Neji Hyūga was considered by many to be a genius. From his first day in the Ninja Academy he had scored top marks in all his classes and had graduated as Rookie of the Year. After graduating, he found himself under the tutelage of the premier taijutsu expert in Konoha where he flourished despite his sensei’s eccentricities. He was the most skilled member of the Hyūga clan in his age bracket in the clan’s signature taijutsu style Jūken, the Gentle Fist. Secretly he had also mastered two other clan techniques that as a branch member he by all rights should not know, simply through observation and experimentation. But if any bothered to ask the boy himself, he would not consider himself a genius. A genius would have figured out how to change the fortunes of the Hyūga branch clan members. A genius would have figured out how to break the cursed seal on his forehead that bound him and all others not of the main line tighter than any chain. No, he was simply talented and observant.

So when he observed the man that called himself “Shirou,” he was confused. It was a most vexing feeling.

When the man conjured that elongated sword and batted aside his teammate’s weapons, Neji was intrigued. He could think of no technique that could create solid weapons from pure chakra like that, except for possibly a variation of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. So he used his clan’s Kekkei Genkai, the special eyes known as the Byakugan, to observe him. To his surprise, the sword in Shirou’s hand was not a mass of condensed chakra like Neji expected, but actual steel and cloth and wood. But there was something off about it.

One of the gifts that the Byakugan granted was clarity of vision far beyond normal people’s capabilities, and Neji saw along the length of the blade microscopic cracks and fissures, far more than what would have appeared just from knocking aside a few shuriken. In the moments where Shirou held the blade still Neji could see the imperfections slowly spread across the blade like a creeping vine. At the rate of progression, the boy estimated that it would take about a week for the damage to spread enough that the blade would simply crumble into dust. When Shirou dispelled the blade, the materials suddenly turned into a mass of pure chakra which separated and molded itself into two curved short swords. The two swords had a line of chakra connecting them, invisible to the naked eye. When Shirou threw one, the thread stretched like a rubber band as the sword whipped through the air before pulling it back like a tether or a magnet.

But what was even more confusing than the weapons was the man wielding them.

Another ability of the Byakugan was the ability to see a person’s chakra network, to see how the energy flowed throughout their body. Normally chakra would pool in the person’s abdomen before spreading throughout the body in channels that made smooth lines and curves, like blood vessels. But Shirou’s chakra network was different. The vessels were jagged and angular, like cracks on a broken window, and there was no central reservoir; the closest he could find was a slight concentration in his left shoulder, which oddly enough seemed…different somehow, like it was from a foreign object. Oddly, Shirou did not seem to have any tenketsu that Neji could see, which could make him difficult to disable should the red-haired man ever face a Hyūga in battle.

As for the quality of the chakra pathways themselves, Neji could think of no other way to put it: they sucked. They were thin and shriveled, like vines that had been cut at the root and simply left to wither in the sun. Neji considered it a miracle that Shirou was alive and able to move with how bad his pathways were. And yet despite their state, chakra still flowed freely through them, thrumming with power. And despite having chakra pathways that would have had an Academy student mustered out for medical reasons, his skill with a blade and calm, stoic countenance implied that Shirou had faced combat before, perhaps many times, against foes much stronger than a mere genin.

Yes, the man known as Shirou was a strange man in Neji’s eyes, one that warranted further observation. Perhaps in time the young “genius” could unravel the stranger’s mysteries. At the very least he could pick up a couple of surprises for the Chūnin Exams.

\----

Naruto took Shirou on several detours before they found themselves at the apartment complex where the young boy lived; by then the sun had begun to set over the horizon. They went to the top floor where Naruto let his guest in. They entered into a small kitchen/dining area with a single doorway that presumably led to a hallway or the bedroom. It was a bit too small for two people to live in over the long term, but doable for a single night.

“I’m going to go up to the roof to train, make yourself at home!” Naruto said before he leapt upwards, disappearing from sight. Taking his host’s invitation to heart, Shirou opened the fridge to see what sort of food Naruto had in stock…

…And nearly gagged on the horrific smell that billowed out.

Shirou ran for the door and took deep, desperate gasps of the clean, fresh air before he fainted or vomited from the stench. Tracing a war fan that he had seen in a museum once, Shirou slowly reentered the apartment, one hand covering his mouth and nose while the other used the fan to try and waft the terrible odor behind him and out the door. When he approached the fridge once more, he saw three items within. One was a carton of milk with the date of expiration set at two weeks ago; likely the source of the stench. Next to it was a carton of eggs that Shirou was suddenly uncertain about and a head of wilted cabbage. After tightly wrapping the rotten food in several plastics bags and disposing of them, he checked the freezer, finding nothing but ice within. Then he checked the three cupboards along the walls. One contained the expected tableware: bowls, plates, and glasses. The other two were packed to capacity with bowls of instant ramen.

“Does this kid eat anything else?” Shirou muttered to himself before stepping outside. Reinforcing his legs, he leapt up to the roof where he saw Naruto practicing his katas. “Naruto, do you know where the nearest market is?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s over there,” the blond replied, pointing at a building two blocks down and one block to the right of where they currently were.

“You’re out of food, so I’m going to go pick up some more,” Shirou explained as he stepped towards the roof’s edge. “I’ll be back soon,” he continued as he hopped off and began making his way towards the store. Once there he purchased ingredients for a nice, simple breakfast: rice, eggs, miso paste, fresh cabbage, and some chicken breast that he planned to steam, along with a few traveling rations for himself. He returned to Naruto’s apartment and began to put away the perishable items in the now-aired-out fridge. While he was putting things away Shirou heard Naruto vacate the roof with a thump.

“Hey Shirou,” the blond said, “can you teach me to fight like you do? You know, with the swords and stuff?”

“…You know, Sasuke asked me the same thing a few days ago,” Shirou said after a moment’s pause.

“What?!” Naruto shouted. “Well, what did you tell him?” he grumbled, upset that his rival had had the same idea as him before.

“The same thing I’m telling you,” Shirou replied as he closed the refrigerator door, “absolutely not.” Naruto’s face twisted strangely, half depressed that he had been rejected and half amused that his rival had also been shot down. “My way of fighting is too risky to teach others. One slip-up would mean certain death. It’s simply too dangerous.”

“But you’re teaching Tenten!” Naruto protested. Shirou shook his head in response.

“I’m not teaching her _my_ style, I’m teaching her how to improve _hers_ ,” the redhead corrected him.

“But there’s got to be something you can teach me,” Naruto pleaded desperately. “Kakashi-sensei doesn’t teach us squat, and Iruka-sensei and the Old Man are too busy, so I don’t really have anybody,” he continued as he looked down, despondent. Seeing the boy in such poor spirits quickly wore away at Shirou’s resolve.

“I know a few things that I might be able to teach you,” he admitted with a sigh. “You’ll have to get your sensei’s permission first, and it can’t be when I’m working with Tenten. She’s paying for my time so she deserves my full attention. Deal?”

“Deal!” Naruto exclaimed, suddenly cheerful once more.

“Great, now get some rest,” Shirou said as he pushed the table and chairs off to one side of the room and laid down a sleeping bag, “I have a feeling that tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

“Okay,” Naruto sighed, clearly too full of energy to go to bed just yet. “Goodnight, Shirou,” he said as he departed to his own bedroom.

“Goodnight,” Shirou replied as he lay down on the padded fabric. He closed his eyes and soon his mind drifted into dreams: dreams of fire, of battle, of a woman that he loved very dearly, and of swords.


	8. Chapter 8

At the top level of the large building in the back of the village, the Third Hokage of Kohonagakure Hiruzen Sarutobi was hard at work. Normally his desk was somewhat cluttered with backlogged paperwork; proper delegation of less pressing issues like payroll or processing lower-ranked missions cut down on his workload, but there was still a significant amount left for him regarding issues like A and S-rank missions and political matters.

One such political matter that was currently clogging his workspace was the upcoming Chūnin Exams. Arrangements for lodgings and other considerations had to be made for the participants and later the arriving delegates. Ninja teams from several minor villages were participating, including a new one called Otogakure, the Village Hidden in the Sound, and a team from Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand. The last one was particularly troublesome for various reasons. Sunagakure was one of the Great Shinobi Countries, the five most powerful ninja villages, but was currently in financial straits. While Suna and Konoha were nominally allies, but it was no secret that the desert village’s leadership blamed their more affluent ally for their economic hardships; upsetting them may prompt them to nullify their alliance entirely. The fact that their sole team consisted entirely of the Kazekage’s children, one of whom was shrouded in rumors of great power and questionable mental stability, did little to ease Sarutobi’s building headache.

Many had suggested to him that he use Shadow Clones to lighten his workload, as they were physically and mentally identical to him and therefore theoretically held equal authority to sign off on documents as the original. While they meant well, what they did not know was that he had tried that once during his first tenure as Hokage. Because the clones were mentally identical to the original, if one tried to foist a task on them that they found boring or unpleasant, they would typically resist. And considering their generally short lifespans and lack of bodily desires, there was very little to incentivize a Shadow Clone to do something that they do not want to do. The first and only time he tried to use Shadow Clones to clear out his workload, Sarutobi quickly found out that it would be quicker and less stressful to simply buckle down and do the work himself rather than spend hours trying to futilely convince his clone to do it for him. Another reason against the practice is that the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is a rather costly jutsu, and should the worst happen it would be bad for the village’s leader to compromise his combat ability for the sake of convenience or laziness. The only person that Sarutobi knew of that could afford to use their chakra in such a frivolous manner was a certain young blond boy.

Speaking of Naruto, it seemed that the boy was making his way over now. Using a jutsu that allowed him to track people whose chakra he recognized, Sarutobi saw Naruto leading his new friend Shirou Emiya through the streets to his office. He had watched them all throughout the previous day, chuckling at Naruto’s youthful enthusiasm as he dragged his companion around the village. He watched them stumble across Guy’s genin team and leaned forward in interest when Shirou offered to spar against the girl – Tenten, he vaguely recalled. While he trusted Kakashi to give an accurate evaluation of the young man’s skill, Sarutobi was interested in seeing what the redhead could do for himself.

The sword that he created seemed unremarkable save for its unusual length, the way he wielded it was remarkable. With the skill and grace of a master twice his age, Shirou had batted aside every weapon thrown against him long before they got close to touching him, the blade swaying in what was nearly a single, continuous movement as it created a virtually impenetrable barrier.

Seeing Naruto and Shirou approaching, Sarutobi dismissed the display and grabbed a document to peruse, giving the appearance of an administrator hard at work. Soon his door swung open, allowing Naruto to stroll in.

“Hey Old Man, I got someone I want to show you!” the blond crowed as Shirou came in behind him. Gesturing to the redhead he continued, “Old Man, this is Shirou. Shirou, meet the Hokage.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Lord Hokage,” the redhead said with a polite bow.

“A pleasure,” the Hokage replied with a nod. Turning to Naruto he continued, “So what brings you to my office so early in the morning?”

“Shirou’s going to be sticking around the village for a couple of weeks and he needs a place to stay,” Naruto explained. “You must have someplace he can stay. You got me my apartment,” he pleaded.

“Settle down Naruto, let me check,” Sarutobi said with a chuckle as he reached into his desk and pulled out a thick folder. In truth he had already picked a place out for the visiting swordsman. It was in the same building that Naruto lived in, which would please the boy. He already had a couple of ninja dispatched to discreetly observe the premises to waylay anyone who bore Naruto any ill will; it would be no trouble to have them keep an eye on Shirou as well. After a few minutes of pretending to peruse he extracted the relevant deed.

“Well?” Naruto asked anxiously.

“As it so happens I do have a place,” Sarutobi said. “It’s actually a couple of levels down from your apartment, Naruto.”

“Really?” the blond boy asked in glee. “That’s awesome, we’ll be neighbors, Shirou!” he crowed to his friend. His lips quirking upward in a smile, Sarutobi flipped through a quick handseal, signaling his secretary outside.

Once she poked her head in, he said, “Bring me a standard short-term lease contract, if you would.”

“At once, Lord Hokage,” the assistant said with a nod before disappearing. She returned a few minutes later with a short stack of papers. The contract was mostly filled out already, with only a few spots left blank concerning the dates of residence, rent, and other such details. After spending nearly half an hour negotiating, both Shirou and Sarutobi signed the document. Shirou Emiya was not officially a resident of Konohagakure for the next two weeks, with his rent due no later than three days past the last day of his lease.

“Now, is there anything else I can help you with?” he asked. When both guests shook their heads in the negative he added, “Then don’t let me hold you here any longer. You can drop this off with my secretary outside on your way out,” he said, gesturing towards the signed lease agreement. After Shirou gave another bow in thanks, the two departed, causing the Hokage to heave a sigh. _That’s one problem dealt with_ , he thought to himself as he reached for yet another document that required his attention. _Only another hundred more to go…_.

\----

After completing their business with the Hokage, Shirou and Naruto went to the field where the latter was to meet with his team. The other two genin in Team 7 were already present while their sensei was absent. While Naruto hung out with his teammates, Shirou sat on a log a short distance away. Pulling out a pencil and paper from his bag the redhead began to draw up a lesson plan for Tenten.

Or at least he tried to. He had had a rather unconventional learning experience. In his youth, his spars with his father and later his guardian Fuji-nee could best be described as “thrashings”; the Holy Grail War had plunged him headfirst into a battle to the death. While such situations served as excellent teachers and motivators, it left Shirou in a quandary as to how to pass on his knowledge to another. Thus he simply stared at a blank piece of paper while gnawing on a pencil. While working out the kinks in his neck he noticed that a couple of hours seemed to have passed, yet the one-eyed shinobi still was not present.

“Is your sensei always this late?” he asked in confusion.

“Unfortunately,” Sakura groaned, dropping her head with a resigned sigh. Shirou frowned at that statement. It seemed rather rude of Kakashi to make his students wait for him like this. After some thought, Shirou decided that it was none of his business and continued to fruitlessly ponder his lesson plans. After another hour had passed, Kakashi finally arrived in a puff of smoke.

“Yo,” he greeted his team. “Sorry I’m late. I was beset by a pack of ravenous squirrels and had to eradicate them for the safety of the village,” he continued in an upbeat tone.

“...LIAR!” Naruto and Sakura shouted simultaneously after a moment's hesitation to process his strange excuse. Sasuke chipped in with an annoyed grunt.

“You wound me with your distrust and accusations,” Kakashi said in mock hurt. “Since today is such a fine day, how about I teach you something practical: Water walking!” he said with exuberance. He leapt towards the lake and stood on its surface like it was solid ground. He explained to his students that while water walking was similar in principle to tree walking, water’s fluid nature meant that they would constantly have to make minute adjustments to the chakra flowing in their feet to maintain stability. Though Sakura had aced the tree walking exercise, the steep learning curve of this next technique meant that she could only find purchase for maybe a second before her feet sunk into the water; the two boys could not even manage that. “What’s on your mind?” Kakashi asked as he stood watch near Shirou.

“Just trying to figure out a lesson plan for tonight,” Shirou groaned in frustration. “The problem is I can’t think of anything. I have no idea how to teach someone and my own teachers’ idea of instruction was to keep swinging until I learned to dodge.”

“Ah, the ‘sink-or-swim’ method,” Kakashi said with a nod of understanding. Watching his genin flop about ineffectually at the lake’s edge he continued, “I prefer a more gentle touch myself, but you can’t really beat the classics. You’re teaching Guy’s girl, correct?” At Shirou’s nod he said, “Then you’ll be fine. He’s pretty intense himself, so she can handle whatever you can dish out. Just do what comes naturally.”

“…Thanks,” Shirou said, nodding in appreciation for the encouragement. Just do what comes naturally? He could do that.

\----

Tenten was sitting cross-legged in the training field, a pen in one hand and a notebook in the other. A textbook on sealing techniques was lying open in her lap. She had taken Shirou’s advice to heart about improving her techniques; while she was waiting for him, she read up on fūinjutsu. She knew that explosions could propel objects, so she was trying to see if she could combine the storage seals with explosive ones so that her weapons would be launched upon unsealing instead of simply falling under the effect of gravity like they currently were. Unfortunately fūinjutsu was a finicky subject at best, where minor mistakes could have potentially deadly consequences, which is one of the reasons why so few people mastered the discipline.

“Hey,” she heard someone say, causing her to look up and see Shirou approaching with a bokken in his hand.

“Hey,” she greeted back, rising to her feet. “I was just studying that advice you gave me yesterday,” she added as she set her things aside.

“Good,” Shirou said with a nod. “I will teach you, but I will do so in the way I was taught. My senseis were not gentle, nor will I. I will be swift and brutal. This is your last chance to back out; if you choose to continue, I will accept nothing less than everything you have. Do you still wish to do this?” While he spoke, Shirou sported a hard, steely expression that might intimidate some with its intensity, but only strengthened Tenten’s resolve.

“Don’t think you can scare me away with a tough face and some words,” she scoffed. Shirou nodded, his lips turning upward into a slight smile. He wordlessly tossed the wooden sword to her, which she caught. With a flash of blue light, Shirou molded his chakra into a shinai with a small tiger pendant hanging from the hilt. Even though the bamboo sword was both hollow and made of a softer wood than Tenten’s new bokken, she still felt an ominous aura emanating from the shinai. Further contemplation of the matter was cut off when Shirou spoke again.

“Not every enemy can be taken down with your rain of weapons,” he said as he slowly paced around Tenten, lightly tapping his shinai against his shoulder. “Maybe you don’t have access to your scrolls, or they’re fast enough to dodge them, or strong enough to weather the assault. Either way they’ve survived the first wave and they’re coming towards you. Your companions are absent or dead and you’re staring down a foe that is likely far stronger than you. What do you do?” The whole time he talked, Tenten slowly pivoted in place to keep Shirou in her vision, her bokken gripped tightly in her hand. “I’ll tell you,” he continued, “you can either fight…” He disappeared with a blur; Tenten instinctively raised her weapon to defend, but it was no use. A strike to her wrist weakened her grip enough to drop her sword, another strike to her leg brought her down to one knee, and a final blow across the shoulders sent her sprawling face-down into the grass. “…Or you can die.”

With a groan of pain Tenten pushed herself back onto her feet and grasped her bokken. With a cry she charged Shirou with an overhead strike. With no more difficulty than brushing away a fly he deflected her blow to one side before driving a fist into her diaphragm, knocking the air from her lungs. While she struggled for breath he gripped the front of her shirt and tossed her onto her back. Shaking away the stars in her vision Tenten got back onto her feet. Shirou waited patiently for her, holding his shinai like an expert kendōka. Gone was the polite, friendly Shirou Emiya that she had met yesterday. Even during their bout he had a slight air of aloof detachment to him, as if he were merely humoring her attempts to strike him. Now he stood as a cold, powerful warrior, one that would treat her as seriously as any other threat and strike appropriately. Well, she would just have to show him that she was just as serious. With another cry, she charged him once more.

\----

If someone were to ask Tenten to describe her time under Shirou Emiya’s tutelage, she would respond with “pain.” True to his word, his lessons were brutal. Every blow from his shinai felt like being struck with a rod of iron, and she could have sworn she heard the thing purr once when it had made a split above her eyebrow.

While her regular sensei Might Guy was also a harsh taskmaster, he and Shirou had different feels to their intensity. Guy tackled his training with the same youthful exuberance that he addressed every task in his life; despite his eccentricities he had a warmth to him that could inspire others to greater heights. But if Might Guy was a blazing inferno, then Shirou Emiya was a cold, ruthless machine. He rarely spoke during his lessons, preferring to mechanically dismantle her attacks and mete out punishment for every mistake. Every time she would try to strike back, he would find some way to dodge or parry it, even if he seemed to be wide open at the time. If nothing else, Tenten could say that her ability to tolerate pain had improved.

After a week of being pummeled by that cursed shinai, Shirou had graduated their spars to (blunt) metal weapons. He encouraged her to use as many different weapons as she could while he did the same using his Bloodline Limit. It was during this week that Tenten truly realized the gulf between their skill levels. When she first started training in her style of choice she quickly realized that no two weapons handled exactly the same. An axe was wielded differently from a sword and a katana was wielded differently from a wakizashi. Even after over a year of training she still needed a second to get used to the feel of the new weapon, a pause that Shirou took full advantage of. The redhead had no such problems. He moved as if he were dancing, each weapon sliding seamlessly in and out of his hands as he whirled like a bloody whirlwind, striking her from all angles with every weapon imaginable. Swords, axes, maces, sickles, all were wielded as if by a master; once he had even used a pair of large spikes attached to long chains to tangle her limbs. One time he had beaten her by swinging at her with a tantō, which she jumped back to dodge. However, halfway through his swing he changed the blade while it was still in his hand to a straight-edged broadsword nearly as long as she was tall, forcing her to contort herself awkwardly in mid-air to try and avoid it. While she was off-balance, it changed again to a steel quarterstaff which he thrust towards her, knocking her on her back.

Despite the vast difference in their abilities, Tenten was not dismayed; in fact, she was more motivated than ever. Ever since she had first entered the Ninja Academy she had considered Tsunade of the Sannin as her role model, even if she ended up not following the path of the healer like the Senju heiress did. But while Tsunade Senju was her inspiration, Shirou Emiya would be her summit. Seeing just how far her abilities could potentially go in a man younger than her sensei inspired her to try and exceed him. In between her tutoring sessions, she continued to work on the suggestions that he had provided her the day they met. Like Guy suspected, the library had little information regarding chakra threads, being a technique primarily practiced in Suna, so progress had stalled on on that front. However, she had managed to modify her storage seals to launch instead of simply dropping her weapons upon activation, which should increase their speed and power.

“The Chūnin Exams begins in two days, correct?” Shirou asked as he dismissed his latest weapon, a halberd.

“Unh,” Tenten grunted in affirmation from her place on the ground, too sore to be more eloquent.

“Then today will be our last day together. You’ll want to rest and recuperate before you take your exams,” Shirou said. Tenten did not reply. While part of her was disappointed that her lessons were ending, another part was glad to be given a chance to convalesce. She was fairly certain that her bruises’ bruises were now sporting bruises of their own.

“So, any last words of wisdom, Sensei?” Tenten asked as she struggled to pull herself into a sitting position.

“Just this,” Shirou replied as he pulled his student to her feet. “I can tell by the look in your eye that you see me as a master of weapons. I’m not.” Tenten looked at him in open confusion. He had beaten her down a hundred times with every weapon under the sun while not taking a hit himself and barely breaking a sweat besides, and he did not consider himself a master? “Masters dedicate themselves to honing their skills in one, maybe two weapons, and they are without peer. But for people like us who use many weapons, we can never hope to master them all in a single lifetime. People like you and I can never be masters, we can only ever be fakers.” Her confusion began to mix with outrage. While a small, logical part of her agreed with his assessment, the emotional part of her was livid over his implicit belittling of her dreams. Before she could say anything he continued with a beatific smile, “But I learned a long time ago that there is no rule that a fake cannot surpass the original.” He gave Tenten a reassuring pat on the shoulder before departing, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts.

\----

Tenten groaned in delight as she stretched her muscles. She had taken her day off at the hot springs, which had done wonders for the soreness that permeated her body. She was rested, refreshed, and after surviving Shirou’s training, she felt ready to take on the world.

“Are you as excited as I am about the Chūnin Exams?” Lee asked his teammates, so full of anticipatory energy that he was practically bouncing in place.

“Yeah,” Tenten affirmed. “I’m anxious to try out some new tricks I’ve come up with these past couple of weeks. How about you, Neji?” she asked her teammate.

“Hrm,” the Hyūga prodigy grunted, seemingly lost in thought. Further discourse was interrupted by a cloud of smoke heralding Guy’s arrival.

“Good morning my youthful students!” he cried out.

“Good morning, Guy-sensei!” Lee greeted back. The other two made their greetings in a more sedate fashion.

“Today is the day where you will be entering the Chūnin Exams,” he reminded his students. “You will be facing many foes in the coming days, including some of your own fellow Konoha ninja. It will be tough, but know that even if you do not get promoted, know that I am proud of you.” He gave them a thumbs-up and a wide smile, his teeth gleaming in the morning light. “Now go show the world that the flames of youth burn brightly inside you!”

“I will, Guy-sensei!” Lee declared, mirroring his idol’s mannerisms. With his pep talk concluded, Guy disappeared once more and his students began making their way to where the exams would take place. On the way there they encountered a familiar redhead.

“There you are, Tenten,” Shirou said when he saw them. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Huh? Why?” she asked.

“I just wanted to wish you luck on your exams before I headed out,” he replied.

“What? You’re leaving?” Tenten asked in shock.

“Yeah,” Shirou said with a nod. “These past two weeks were longer than I really intended on staying here, and I heard that the third stage of your exams won’t be for another five weeks. It’s nice here, but I’m of better use elsewhere,” he continued. “Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure to be back in time to cheer you on,” he quickly assured her.

“You sound awfully confident that she will get to the third stage,” Neji noted. Tenten twitched in annoyance at her teammate’s apparent lack of confidence in her.

“She’s pretty talented,” Shirou responded. “I have full confidence that she’ll go far.” Tenten felt conflicted: on the one hand, she swelled with pride at Shirou’s faith in her; on the other hand, she still smarted from when he called her a faker the other day. “Oh, I almost forgot!” he said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small scroll that he offered to Tenten. She took it and looked it over; it seemed to be a standard storage scroll that one could get from any decent ninja supply shop in the village.

“What’s this?” she asked as she continued to look the scroll over.

“Just a little something I prepared for you in case of emergency,” Shirou said. “They’re pretty fragile though, so I suggest not using them unless absolutely necessary. To use them, you…” Then he leaned forward and whispered instructions into her ear, covering his mouth so that no one could read his lips. Her eyes widened when he told her of what his gift to her did.

“How did you--?” she began to ask before Shirou interrupted her.

“You should probably get going; don’t want to be late to your exams after all,” he said quickly. In a more natural tone he added, “Good luck again, all of you,” before he departed on his own path.

“What did he give you, Tenten?” Lee asked as they continued on their way. Tenten considered answering her teammate, but a part of her wanted to keep it a secret so that she could properly impress them at the right time.

“It’s a surprise,” she answered as she tucked the scroll into one of her pockets.

“Ooh, I like surprises!”

As they approached the exam building they could see a crowd of ninja of all ages congregating around the entrance, sporting forehead protectors from many villages. _Guy-sensei, Shirou-sensei, I’ll make sure that your confidence in me isn’t misplaced_ , Tenten thought to herself as she took a deep, bracing breath and stepped forward. _And someday I’ll show you that I can be more than just a faker._


End file.
